Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T11:28:42.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Severe Psychiatric Disturbances in the Post-Operative Period—A Five-Year Survey of Belfast Hospitals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

S. J. Knox*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, The Queen's University, Belfast

Extract

There are few incidents more calculated to disturb the well-ordered routine of a surgical unit than when a patient develops a severe psychiatric disorder in the post-operative period. Such episodes may occur suddenly after an interval of seemingly uneventful recovery and in some instances may be of such severity as to result in an appreciable and even dangerous deterioration in the patient's physical state. The impact on relatives must also be considered, for it is easy to understand the dismay which they must experience on observing the patient pass from a state of apparent composure into one of hyperkinetic excitement, panic, or confusion.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1961 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Abeles, M. M., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1938, 94, 1187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Allison, R. S., Brit. Med. J., 1952, ii, 1286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Batten, C. T., and Courville, C. B., Anesthesiology, 1940, 1, 261.Google Scholar
4 Bedford, P. D., Lancet, 1955, ii, 259.Google Scholar
5 Buss, E. L., Rumel, W. R., and Branch, C. H., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1955, 74, 249.Google Scholar
6 Idem , Migeon, C. L., Branch, C. H., and Samuels, L. T., Psychosom. Med., 1956, 18, 56.Google Scholar
7 Bolton, H. E., and Bailey, C. P., “Psychosomatic Aspects of Cardiovascular Surgery”, in: Psychosomatic Aspects of Surgery, 1955 (Cantor, and Foxe, , editors). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
8 Bourne, J. G., Lancet, 1952, ii, 705.Google Scholar
9 Idem , ibid., 1955, ii, 295.Google Scholar
10 Brownell, M. E., Trans. Clin. Soc. Univ. Mich. Ann Arbor, 1916-17, 1917, 8, 74.Google Scholar
11 Bruns, H. D., Ann. Ophth., 1916, 25, 718.Google Scholar
12 Clowes, G. H. A. Jr., Del Guercio, L. R., and Barwinsky, J., Arch. Surg., 1960, 81, 212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13 Cobb, S., and McDermott, N. T., Med. Clin. N. Amer., 1938, 22, 569.Google Scholar
14 Cohen, S. I., and Silverman, A. J., J. Psychosom. Res., 1959, 3, 185.Google Scholar
15 Corday, E., Rothenberg, S., and Putnam, T. J., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1953, 69, 551.Google Scholar
16 Da Costa, J. C., Surg. Gynec. Obstet., 1910, 11, 577.Google Scholar
17 Dencker, S. J., and Sandahl, A., Lancet, 1961, i, 1230.Google Scholar
18 Dent, C. T., J. Ment. Sci., 1889, 35, 1.Google Scholar
19 Donovan, J. C., Amer. J. Obstet. Gynec., 1958, 75, 72.Google Scholar
20 Doyle, J. B., Brit. J. Anaesth., 1928, 6, 37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21 Dupuytren, Baron, Lancet, 1834, i, 919.Google Scholar
22 Dwyer, B., and George, E., Aust. N.Z. J. Surg., 1960, 30, 102.Google Scholar
23 Ebaugh, F. G., Surg. Gynec. Obstet., 1939, 68, 372.Google Scholar
24 Enderby, G. E. H., and Pelmore, J. F., Lancet, 1951, i, 663.Google Scholar
25 Fazekas, J. F., Alman, R. W., and Bessman, A. N., Amer. J. Med. Sci., 1952, 223, 245.Google Scholar
26 Feiling, A., Practitioner, 1937, 138, 259.Google Scholar
27 Fletcher, G., Pender, J. W., and Wood, E. H., Anesth. Analg., 1956, 35, 18.Google Scholar
28 Fox, H. M., Rizzo, N. D., and Gifford, S., Psychosom. Med., 1954, 16, 186.Google Scholar
29 Gidro-Frank, L., Gordon, T., and Taylor, H. C., Amer. J. Obstet. Gynec., 1960, 79, 1184.Google Scholar
30 Gray, T. C., Lancet, 1957, i, 383.Google Scholar
31 Greenwood, A., J. Amer. Med. Ass., 1928, 91, 1713.Google Scholar
32 Hackett, T. P., and Weisman, A. D., Psychosom. Med., 1960, 22, 267.Google Scholar
33 Idem , ibid., 1960, 22, 356.Google Scholar
34 Heilbrunn, A., and Allbritten, F. F., Ann. Surg., 1960, 152, 197.Google Scholar
35 Heron, W., Scientific American, 1957, 196, 52.Google Scholar
36 Hollender, M. C., Amer. J. Obstet. Gynec., 1960, 79, 498.Google Scholar
37 Kaplan, S. M., Psychosom. Med., 1956, 18, 221.Google Scholar
38 Kelly, H. A., Amer. J. Obstet. Gynec., 1909, 59, 1035.Google Scholar
39 Kennard, M. A. Psychosom. Med., 1953, 15, 95.Google Scholar
40 Klug, T. J., and McPherson, R. C., Amer. J. Surg., 1959, 97, 713.Google Scholar
41 Kroger, W. S., West. J. Surg., 1957, 65, 317.Google Scholar
42 Lewis, A., “The Relation between Operative Risk and the Patient's General Condition”, Report XVI Congrès International de Chirurgie, Copenhague, 1955.Google Scholar
43 Lindemann, E., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1941, 98, 132.Google Scholar
44 Linn, L., Kahn, R. L., Coles, R., Cohen, J., Marshall, D., and Weinstein, E. A., ibid., 1953, 110, 281.Google Scholar
45 Medical Times and Gazette, London, 1854, 9, 266.Google Scholar
46 Meyer, B. C., Psychosom. Med., 1958, 20, 203.Google Scholar
47 Moore, F. D., Metabolic Care of the Surgical Patient, 1959. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company.Google Scholar
48 Muncie, W., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1934, 32, 681.Google Scholar
49 Oltman, J. E., and Friedman, S., Psychiat. Quart., 1943, 17, 405.Google Scholar
50 Preu, P. W., and Guida, F. P., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1937, 38, 818.Google Scholar
51 Priest, W. S., Zaks, M. S., Yacorzynski, G. K., and Boshes, G. K., Med. Clin. N. Amer., 1957, 155.Google Scholar
52 Robinson, G. W., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1942, 99, 110.Google Scholar
53 Rollanson, W. N., and Hough, J. M., Brit. J. Anaesth., 1960, 32, 286.Google Scholar
54 Russell, E. C., Ann. Surg., 1935, 101, 313.Google Scholar
55 Russell, J., Brit. Med. J., 1897, ii, 770.Google Scholar
56 Scheinberg, P., Blackburn, I., Rich, M., and Seslaw, M., A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1953, 70, 77.Google Scholar
57 Scchottstaedt, W. W., Grace, W. J., and Wolff, H. G., J. Amer. Med. Ass., 1955, 157, 1485.Google Scholar
58 Scott, J., Amer. J. Surg., 1960, 100, 38.Google Scholar
59 Sheffer, M. B., and Greifenstein, F. E., Anesthesiology, 1960, 21, 502.Google Scholar
60 Shurley, J. T., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1960, 117, 539.Google Scholar
61 Synder, J. E., J. Clin. Invest., 1938, 17, 571.Google Scholar
62 Stengel, E., Zeitlyn, B. B., and Rayner, E. H., J. Ment. Sci., 1958, 104, 389.Google Scholar
63 Sturgis, S. H., Robey, H., Pierson, H., Gates, P., Plaut, T., Menzer-Benaron, D., Obstet. Gynec., 1956, 7, 363.Google Scholar
64 Titchener, J. L., Zwerling, L, Gottschalk, L., Levine, M., Culbertson, W., Cohen, S., and Silver, H., Surg. Gynec. Obstet., 1956, 102, 59.Google Scholar
65 Washburne, A. C., and Carns, M. L., J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 1935, 82, 508.Google Scholar
66 Weisman, A. D., and Hackett, T. P., New Engl. J. Med., 1958, 258, 1284.Google Scholar
67 Weiss, E., and English, O. S., Psychosomatic Medicine, 1957. 3rd Edition. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company, p. 394.Google Scholar
68 Wynne, L. C., Fang, H. C., and Gibson, J. G., Unpublished data.Google Scholar
69 Zaks, M. S., Cardiology, 1959. Vol. 3. (Luisada, A. A., editor.) New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.