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Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol 51, Issue 3 356-370, Copyright © 1989 by American Psychosomatic Society

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Psychological consequences of surgery

MW O'Hara, MM Ghoneim, JV Hinrichs, MP Mehta and EJ Wright
Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.

The purpose of the present study was to assess changes in psychological distress and memory complaint following a wide variety of surgeries. In addition, variables reflecting type of surgery, demographic characteristics, history of mental illness, and health factors were evaluated as predictors of postoperative psychological distress and memory complaint. Using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), it was found that 10.9% of patients had high levels of psychological distress the day before surgery compared to 13.9% of patients three months after surgery. Complaints of memory disturbance also increased significantly. Only the anxiety subscale of the BSI showed a significant decrease at three months postsurgery. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that younger age, lower social status, being male, having a history of mental illness, higher presurgery BSI, and poorer postsurgery health were significant predictors of postsurgery psychological distress. The results of the study suggest that, although patients become less anxious after surgery, other forms of emotional distress increase, perhaps due to factors such as slower than anticipated recovery. Results also suggest that medical factors may play an indirect rather than a direct role in psychological consequences of surgery.


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