When a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer, he and his loved ones are called upon to make decisions large and small. Sometimes these decisions can be very specific: what treatments do I want? What medicines will I take? At other times, they are more general: what should I be doing to be an active part of my own treatment? How do I know what decisions are right for me?
In learning to make these decisions, the pyramid is a helpful symbol of the task at hand. When we look at the pyramid, we immediately notice two important features: its sides and its different levels.

THE SIDES
There are four sides to the pyramid:
1. the Sources
2. the Participants,
3. the Process
4. the Goals.
Each side of the pyramid represents an aspect of decision making.

THE DIFFERENT LEVELS
The pyramid starts with a wide, broad base and grows towards a point at the top. Similarly, we find that when we begin our decision making process, we include a vast number of factors, but as we move higher on the pyramid, the area of our concern becomes more focused. At the end of the process, at the tip of the pyramid, we arrive at a decision - a decision made by the individual.
To learn more about the pyramid, please click on the pyramid labeled "Three Levels", below.

The Prostate Cancer Decision Pyramid area of this website was designed by Dr. Israel Barken and created by, Derren Barken.