Personal Space: Implications in patient-doctor relationship

Personal space by definition is an approximate area surrounding an individual in which other people should not physically violate in order for them to feel comfortable and secure. The idea comes from Edward T. Hall secondary to influence from studies of behaviour of zoo animals. Personal space may also be defined as the area immediately surrounding the individual in which the majority of his interactions with others take place; it has no fixed geographical reference points, moves about with the individual, and expands and contracts under varying conditions.