Comunicare, valutare il rischio, prendere decisioni: per la costruzione del setting della consulenza genetica

Among most typical topics in psychological literature concerning genetic counseling are communication, decision making and risk evaluation. Notwithstanding the interest of such contributions, it is possible to underline the absence of an analysis of the context of counseling itself. Without a definition of context, psychological topics risk to result abstract if not meaningless. The Authors present a hypothesis for the construction of the counseling setting which, by making questions explicit, opens to the universe of emotions that are inevitably involved in decision making. In particular they insist on the possibility of a setting that is preemptive of negative emotions, particularly regret and remorse, frequently attached to decision making. Furthermore, the function of a psychological expert present in the setting is discussed