I believe everyone is familiar with the word "surgery". Surgery refers to the treatment process of excision, suture and other treatments performed by doctors using medical devices to perform surgery on the patient's body, using knife, scissors, needles and other devices to eliminate lesions, change structures or implant external objects through external forces.
The purpose of surgery is to treat or diagnose diseases, such as removing lesion tissue, repairing damage, transplanting organs, and improving the function and morphology of the body. Generally speaking, after completing the preoperative work, use a knife or scissor to cut the skin, so it is commonly known as surgery.
Of course, surgery also involves physical changes in the body, but you will also face many emotional and mental health challenges when preparing, recovering and recovering.
One of the issues you, your loved ones and your surgical team will consider before you agree to the surgery is the risks and benefits of the surgery itself. An advance understanding of the types of risk factors (probably issues that affect surgery success) and resilience factors (benefits that support surgical outcomes) can lead to more realistic expectations of the surgery. For example, suffering from diabetes , hypertension or mental illness are risk factors for exacerbation of postoperative pain. Access to home support, good self-care, and other social, economic and community help are resilience factors that are conducive to surgical recovery.
One of the reasons you have to review your unique pros and cons is that it helps reduce the risk of postoperative depression – a serious and common medical phenomenon.
What is postoperative depression?
After surgery Depression , sometimes called postoperative depression, is a situational depression that occurs after the patient has undergone surgery, occurring after the patient's surgery or at most one year later.
Depression has trauma-related attacks after surgery. According to clinical data and literature, most studies on postoperative depression are mainly directed at patients with heart surgery, followed by orthopedic surgery.
But you need to know that any invasive surgery may cause postoperative depression. We should also note that sometimes the symptoms of depression after surgery may be misdiagnosed or completely missed because they are similar to the expected physical and emotional state after surgery:
·Excessive sleep
·Difficult to fall asleep
·Irritability
·Fatiguness
·Fatiguness
·Loss of interest
·Helpless
·Desperate
·Loss of appetite
Risk of postoperative depression
Although medical professionals know that postoperative depression is a common phenomenon, the public does not seem to know much about it.
New concept psychological expert Professor Rong Xinqi emphasized that depression is often one of the side effects of surgery. Therefore, it is very important to understand its symptoms and risks.
Professor Rong said based on research data and his previous clinical experience that various problems may even directly cause postoperative depression. For example:
·Depression before surgery: patients suffer from depression before surgery, which may be the cause of postoperative depression. In addition, studies have shown that patients with mental health problems have higher levels of postoperative pain and need to work with their surgical team to effectively control the pain to curb postoperative depression symptoms.
·Subclinical depression: Although clinical depression may not have been diagnosed before the operation, sometimes symptoms of subclinical or low-grade depression may exist before the operation, and it will be deepened by surgical trauma. This is why mental health screening before and after the surgery, such as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale or the Zung Depression Scale, can help patients and hospital staff understand their physical and mental health after the surgery.
·Surgery trauma and infection: The surgery itself will cause a huge impact on the patient's body and mind, and the result may lead to a depressed situational response. Postoperative infections and other surgical complications can also lead to a depressed mood.
·Become a smoker: Smokers are much higher than those who do not smoker have postoperative complications (including postoperative depression). There is new evidence that smokers who quit smoking within 4 weeks or more before the surgery have a lower risk of complications and better recovery after 6 months of surgery.
·Adverse reactions of drugs: Adverse reactions or side effects of drugs are the common "culprits" of postoperative depression. The effectiveness of antibiotic , painkillers and postoperative disease metabolism management needs to be carefully evaluated to ensure that patients experience drug responses rather than more severe depression.
·Postoperative Pain: Accurate and chronic postoperative pain are important risk factors for postoperative depression. Studies have shown that pain leads to altered synaptic connections between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, as well as altered dopamine signal from the ventral tegmental area. These neurobiological changes link postoperative pain and depression. While pain is an expected experience during surgery, successful treatment will greatly reduce symptoms of depression.
·Response to anesthesia: Drowsiness, numbness, and dullness accompanied by anesthesia may also lead to cognitive confusion and other symptoms of depression, such as mood swings, crying and delirium. General anesthesia has a great impact on brain function, so it is also one of the main causes of postoperative depression.
·Reality and Expectation: Patients who may not be fully prepared for the surgical journey will be at risk of postoperative depression. This preparation involves understanding the risks and benefits of medical procedures and the surgery after 6 weeks, 6 months or even 6 years. Ensuring that treatment plans are followed before the surgery and talking to others who have experienced the surgery can help keep expectations realistic. People who are lax or casual in setting up home care, physical therapy, medication supplements, and other post-hospital management may experience severe postoperative depression.
How to reduce postoperative depression?
For patients, surgery can be a disastrous experience both physically and psychologically. Being able to endure pain and recover healthy after surgery is a common goal for patients and doctors.
Professor Rong said that if you are about to face an operation, one of the more effective methods is to double the recovery of elasticity. Learning how to use elastic methods under extreme stress can not only reduce postoperative depression, but also helps wound healing, pain management, and cope with other postoperative complications.
Here are some tips to help you become more flexible during surgery and seek help and support when you develop postoperative depression.
·Preparation: Do your homework in advance and understand your surgical process as much as possible. If you are undergoing emergency surgery, you may not have time to collect information, but that doesn't mean that the person you love can't help you and once you get out of the surgery, you can't be your rock.
·Plan: Do your best to prepare for the physical changes that your surgical experience brings. In addition, plan for the mental health problems that surgery may bring. Consider making self-conditioning, self-healing a priority and letting others take care of you after the surgery.
· Check your thoughts: Negative thoughts and disastrous thoughts are common after surgery, such as usually you think you will never feel better again. You can try to grab these bad ideas and turn them to something that encourages yourself, makes yourself hopeful or is more realistic based. Staying positive in the face of difficulties has great benefits for the mind, body and soul.
·Care and care of relatives and friends: If you encounter mental health problems, please make sure that your relatives and friends are by your side before, during and after the operation. This will be of great help to your surgery, postoperative recovery, and mood regulation.
· Seek help from professionals: If you have undergone surgery and feel sad, lost, irritable, helpless or desperate, or if you experience changes in sleep, diet and other life problems over two weeks or more. Then, in these cases, you need to contact professional mental health experts (such as psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychological counselors) to seek help from them. Proper diagnosis and treatment of postoperative depression can help you feel better and bring you back to the expected surgical recovery trajectory.
