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- Title
Persistence of Psychological Distress in Surgical Patients with Interest in Psychotherapy: Results of a 6-Month Follow-Up.
- Authors
Kerper, Léonie F.; Spies, Claudia D.; Lößner, Maria; Salz, Anna-Lena; Tafelski, Sascha; Balzer, Felix; Weiß-Gerlach, Edith; Neumann, Tim; Lau, Alexandra; Glaesmer, Heide; Brähler, Elmar; Krampe, Henning
- Abstract
Objectives: This prospective observational study investigated whether self-reported psychological distress and alcohol use problems of surgical patients change between preoperative baseline assessment and postoperative 6-month follow-up examination. Patients with preoperative interest in psychotherapy were compared with patients without interest in psychotherapy. Methods: A total of 1,157 consecutive patients from various surgical fields completed a set of psychiatric questionnaires preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively, including Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), World Health Organization 5-item Well-Being Index (WHO- 5), and Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Additionally, patients were asked for their interest in psychotherapy. Repeated measure ANCOVA was used for primary data analysis. Results: 16.7% of the patients were interested in psychotherapy. Compared to uninterested patients, they showed consistently higher distress at both baseline and month 6 regarding all of the assessed psychological measures (p's between ,0.001 and 0.003). At 6-month follow-up, neither substantial changes over time nor large time x group interactions were found. Results of ANCOVA's controlling for demographic variables were confirmed by analyses of frequencies of clinically significant distress. Conclusion: In surgical patients with interest in psychotherapy, there is a remarkable persistence of elevated self-reported general psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and alcohol use disorder symptoms over 6 months. This suggests high and chronic psychiatric comorbidity and a clear need for psychotherapeutic and psychiatric treatment rather than transient worries posed by facing surgery.
- Subjects
PSYCHOLOGICAL distress; PATIENTS; PSYCHOTHERAPY; ALCOHOL drinking; IMPASSE (Psychotherapy); CARE of people; PEOPLE with mental illness
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2012, Vol 7, Issue 12, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0051167