[Counseling families and patients with prion disease]

It is critical to provide sufficient information and psychosocial support to people who have concerns and questions related with prion disease, especially families and patients. The processes of information provision and psychological counseling require professional skills based on theories, and people' s needs should be considered. Grief counseling is also helpful for not only those who have lost their families but also people who are facing difficult diagnosis and rapid development of illness. With regard to familial prion disease, which is about 10 % of all cases, genetic counseling is useful to discuss genetics and genetic testing with people who are at risk. As a system of peer-support, there are prion disease family support groups available in Japan and other countries.