PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO SURGICAL TREATMENT IN BREAST CANCER

Abstract

Breast cancer is a disease that threats not only the life but also sexuality and womenhood of the person. Surgical operation effects detrimentaly the patient's body image, self-esteem, psychological status, sexual life and interrelationship with the environment. The determining factors in the response to the operation are the subjective meaning of breast lost, the personal experience and perception of the breast in the person's ego and womenhood concept. Even the thought and probability of the loss of the breast effect the person severely in a sociaty that equals or attribute the breast a symbol of womenhood and sexuality. Depending on how the breast is perceived and the personality feature of the patient, a variety of psychological reaction develop among which the primary ones can be defined as the following: Shock, denial, hostilite, depression, projection, psychological regression, hopelessnes-helplessnes, exhaustion and pathological dependency. Anxiety and depression are the most frequently devoloping psychiatric situations. The perception of the illness, the information level and what is unknown effects psychological state of the patient. Thus the psychological preparation of the patient in the preoperative phase and providing psychological support decreases medical and behavioral complications and helps in the psyhosocial adjustment of the patient during the post-operative phase. It is of vital importance to provide psychological support starting from the pre-operative phase continuing in the post-operative phase and until a new body image, a new functional ego and new perceptive style, new productive relation with the world is constructed.