ABSTRACT
The professional engaged in genetic counselling will need to adjust their tone and style to the circumstances. This aspect of communication, the ‘tuning’ of communicative style to the needs of the patient, can be expressed in terms of content and context, information and reflection, or facts and values. Professionals differ in how they communicate and in their styles of communication. In thinking through one's general approach to communication, it can be helpful to have a vocabulary for doing so and for discussing particular instances of communication in consultations. Decisions about relationships, about reproduction, looking into the future or sharing information within the family may all require knowledge of the medical facts, but the facts alone will fail to provide the answers. The unhelpful expectations that the term ‘genetic counselling’ can generate vary from a sense of threat to a sense of being immune to criticism.
