{"id":14807,"date":"2021-03-26T19:25:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T17:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/endocrinesurgeon.gr\/%cf%88%cf%85%cf%87%ce%bf%ce%bb%ce%bf%ce%b3%ce%af%ce%b1\/"},"modified":"2022-03-05T10:46:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T08:46:03","slug":"psychology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/endocrinesurgeon.gr\/en\/psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Print<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

PSYCHOLOGY OF SURGICAL PATIENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Undergoing a surgery is\u00a0a major event<\/strong>\u00a0in one\u2019s life. Except the issue for which one is operated, the idea of undergoing a surgery raises a number of questions and is a source of anxiety.<\/p>\n

The previous generations of surgeons\u00a0<\/strong>were usually focusing exclusively on the technical surgical issue and the mechanistic way of solving it.\u00a0Today<\/strong>, societies with organised health systems require from a modern Doctor a more \u2018holistic\u2019 approach in everyday practice. Body and soul are \u2013 and should be considered \u2013 interconnected and in constant interaction with each other. Therefore, a truly human approach means understanding the psychological state of the patient, be willing to solve any eventual questions and cultivate an atmosphere of trust between the doctor and the patient.<\/p>\n

In a calm environment, maintaining confidentiality and a private form of communication, the doctor has to\u00a0dedicate time and show interest in explaining<\/strong>\u00a0all things pertaining to the surgery and offer psychological support.<\/p>\n

The patients are often reluctant to accept \u00a0reality and, not infrequently, ill-informed or sciolist about their condition. Having the disease is by itself a very psychologically stressful situation, where the patient demonstrates occasionally different psychological reactions. In view of a scheduled surgery, appears anxiety, concern for the outcome of the surgery or sometimes a depressing feeling. Thus,\u00a0questions-fears arise daily<\/strong>, such as: is there a risk of not waking up after surgery, is there a risk of complications, what if I discover that I have cancer, is there a risk of having an ugly scar, and more.\u00a0Accurate information provision by the Surgeon eliminates unreasonable fear\u00a0<\/strong>that feeds on the absence of correct and sufficient information. The Surgeon must understand the psychodynamic mechanism of any reactions, and should thoroughly discuss all the stress-generating reasons one by one. This way, the patient\u2019s trust towards the Surgeon will be reinforced, and at the same time the well informed patient\u2019s self-confidence will build-up.\u00a0The explanations provided by the doctor\u00a0 reassure the patient and reduce both \u00a0stress and anxiety. Furthermore, \u00a0\u00a0provision of explicit data and logical argumentation \u00a0offers the possibility of an objective view on \u00a0reality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many cases, when the doctor suggests a surgery as the solution to the problem, some patients react with\u00a0denial<\/strong>, a well-known\u00a0defence mechanism<\/strong>. Thus, it is not a rare occurrence for individuals who have a health problem (either evident or not) and should undergo a surgery, to react, for example, in one of the following ways: \u201cI have no health issues at all\u2026 What was found in my medical examinations was not something serious\u2026 I don\u2019t care what the doctors say\u2026 I was fine till yesterday\u2026 People of my family have a strong organism\u2026 I have a feeling nothing bad is going to happen to me\u2026\u201d\u00a0The outcome is, unfortunately, sad and quite common\u00a0<\/strong>in the everyday practice of a doctor. In quite a few cases, if the patient would seek a surgical correction of their problem in time, unpredictable acute complications, that often emergently lead to the operation room in very deteriorated health and with a high risk of postoperative morbidity or mortality, would be avoided. Moreover, there are stories more or less known in every family of people around us who ignored an\u00a0incipient<\/em>\u00a0warning sign of a malignant disease \u2013 whose surgical removal could offer a complete cure \u2013 to become an\u00a0advanced<\/em>, or final stage of cancer.<\/p>\n

In particular, in thyroid or parathyroid surgery<\/strong>, the patient may easily \u201cbe in denial\u201d of the problem, since even in an advanced stage, thyroid cancer may not be visible on the patient\u2019s neck, may not have any symptoms, and the common hormonal examinations may continue to appear normal, while the only suspicions often arise from the ultrasound.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0particularity of a patient\u2019s psychology concerning a thyroid operation lies<\/strong>\u00a0in a) the visible anatomic region and the anxiety of the aesthetic result after surgery, b) our sensitivity in the region of the neck, where we feel that vital anatomic elements are, like the vocal cords, carotids, tracheas, c) knowing the connection between the thyroid and our metabolism and the stress of any weight change d) hormone imbalance \u2013 while the ailing thyroid is still there \u2013 resulting in nervousness, petulance, sentimentality etc.<\/p>\n

A well informed patient \u00a0is psychologically calm<\/strong>. The tactic employed by some doctors, of not referring to the delicate and dangerous parts of an operation, demonstrating everything as too easy and telling the patients what they want to hear, is dangerous and occasionally catastrophic. Clarifying all the details of the recovery phase keeps the patient informed and reduces stress. Finally, it is important that we \u00a0give directions to the family, so that they can be \u00a0useful to the recovering patient.<\/p>\n

A common situation that negatively influences a patient, while there is no need to, who will potentially have to undergo a thyroid surgery, is\u00a0hearing stories<\/strong>\u00a0about (ostensibly similar) experiences from friends, acquaintances, and neighbours. We should always be aware that there are different thyroid conditions, various levels of importance of a condition, differences between patients\u2019 organisms with different accompanying organic health problems and varying mentalities concerning discomfort or pain, but most of all there are\u00a0different surgical techniques (modern, traditional), various technological surgical equipment (state-of-the-art, basic), different Surgeons (specialised, general)<\/em><\/strong>\u2026 This is the reason why, we should always discuss our own case only, with the Specialist Surgeon who will certify that he can undertake our surgery successfully.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr Karvounis has a special sensitivity in approaching patients with thyroid conditions.\u00a0<\/strong>As an attending physician with experiential knowledge treating thousands of patients in a specialised Endocrine Surgery unit, with working experience in Greece and abroad, and having a friendly and warm personality with a pronounced element of humanity, understands the patient\u2019s variety of feelings, communicates, reassures, informs, and always stands by the patient. In this daily, persistent and human \u00a0patient encouragement he has the constant support, help and advice from his wife, a Psychologist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Print PSYCHOLOGY OF SURGICAL PATIENT Undergoing a surgery is\u00a0a major event\u00a0in one\u2019s life. Except the issue for which one is operated, the idea of undergoing a surgery raises a number of questions and is a source of anxiety. The previous generations of surgeons\u00a0were usually focusing exclusively on the technical surgical issue and the mechanistic way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14807","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nPsychology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Psychology - Evangelos Karvounis MD, PhD, FACS - Endocrine Surgeon and Head of Endocrine Surgery Department\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/endocrinesurgeon.gr\/en\/psychology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Psychology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Psychology - Evangelos Karvounis MD, PhD, FACS - 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