Four patients undergoing treatment with phenelzine developed low serum pseudocholinesterase levels. In one of the patients an apnoea of one hour followed modified electric convulsion therapy. In three cases investigations showed that the serum pseudocholinesterase levels returned to normal after withdrawal of phenelzine.
SYNopsis Twenty-eight patients were investigated psychologically before surgery. The purposes of the study were (1) to discover the nature of preoperative anxiety, and (2) to compare direct questioning with an indirect method. The merits and shortcomings of the two types of assessment emerged. The findings suggest that, in addition to worries about the operation and the anaesthetic, there was concern about leaving the home and family, which was accentuated by lack of communication and contact with hospital staff, including the surgical team. Pain was found to have a variety of implications including loneliness. These and other findings are discussed in relation to psychological theories.Most patients suffer from an unpleasant state of mind (uneasiness, anxiety, fear) before an operation. The cause is not clear, nor are the methods for its investigation established. The nature and quality of these feelings depend on the patient's personality and on how he construes and reacts to the preoperative situation. It is also determined by past experiences, whether his own or other people's.A patient's ability to express feelings and anxieties depends on his verbal fluency, his defence mechanisms regarding emotional experience, the investigator's personality and the interview technique, and social influences varying from the character of the ward and the disposition of other patients to the patient's own cultural environment. A current social attitude to an operation is 'there isn't much to worry about; they can do such marvellous things these days'.This study is concerned with the problems: 1.
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