ABSTRACT
The diagnostic phase has many medical and psychosocial variables that affect each stage of the family life cycle. The diagnostic examination is often physically and emotionally stressful. The patient may have to go through many uncomfortable diagnostic procedures and then often wait for test results. It is a time of emotional disequilibrium that reverberates throughout the family system. This is a time of increased anxiety, uncertainty, and anxious apprehension during which family members begin to prepare themselves for very frightening and threatening news.
