Andrew Samuels, a Jungian analyst who teaches at the University of Essex's Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, says that the assertive, information-seeking consumer so beloved of health-care reformers is already a fixture in the consulting room.
That said, knowing that many doctors have an honorable intention to minimize a patient's anxiety, I must be assertive and solicit information from my doctor.
Information provision could be improved; assertive patients received more information which was considered unfair.
"People get excited when they call, and you have to be assertive to get the information right".
"Hurricane Sandy" is No. 1. NASA (which now has about 1.6 million likes on Facebook) has also become more sophisticated and assertive about doling out information piece by piece to sustain interest.
She has a way of flaunting her recall, knowledge and accomplishments, quickly volunteering or clarifying information that a less assertive person might not.
In America, this was underlined by a shift from smokestack industries and into high-tech ones, and by firms' efforts to adapt themselves to new information technology and more assertive investors.
People today are better educated and more assertive and enjoy greater access to information.
Participants agreed that having frank discussions with medical teams is 'healthy', yet some believed women who are less assertive may have more difficulty obtaining information.
Another factor that contributes to undertreatment in women in this age group is that older women may be less likely to seek information, or to be assertive about therapy choices.
Loveday Madzika says his boss at accounting giant KPMG gripes that he isn't assertive enough when it comes to getting financial information from some of the firm's auditing clients.
