David T. Eton, PhD

The authors challenge the notion that men with prostate cancer exhibit little psychological difficulty. In fact, we do not know much about actual distress rates in men with prostate cancer because few studies have directly measured distress in this population. Likewise, we do not know if the distress experienced by prostate cancer patients is qualitatively different from that of other cancer patients. By assuming that all men with prostate cancer "do well," we, as clinicians and researchers, may fail to ask patients important questions.