Publisher's Synopsis
This volume explores the psychodynamic issues raised by different kinds of surgery, and how a patient's experience of surgery is influenced by the physical, cultural and even mythic meanings of the body organ operated on. The chapters look at the psychological implications of, and emotional reactions to, most types of major surgery. The understanding of these issues, by the psychiatrist, the clinical psychologist, the surgeon and nurse, can mean the difference between recovery and illness, health and chronic invalidism, and even life and death. The last chapter discusses the use of short term therapy to help the patient adjust to the trauma of surgery.
