Depression in Mastectomized Womem: A Brief Report

Abstract

Only in the year 2018, over two million cases of breast cancer worldwide have been reported, often treated through mastectomy, showing the importance of the study of this procedure, in relation to the physical, psychological and spiritual sequelae of the patients. The objective was to evaluate how these sequels favor the development of post-surgery depression. A bibliometric research was developed in the Portal of Periodicals of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, using the following key words ["mastectomized women" and "depression"] 32 articles found. The results were submitted to the "peer-reviewed journals" filter and “Articles in English and Portuguese”, resulting in 10 selected articles that were then merged compiled with information collected from the official WHO and INCA websites to compose this work. Mastectomy aesthetically affects an important component of assertion of womanliness, sexuality and womanhood, post-surgical depression is a common reaction in these patients. Part of these consequences are of a sexual, affective, social and even altered bodily perception. The importance of family, social and professional support in the rehabilitation of these women is also emphasized. The review of these articles allowed us to verify the need to analyze the reconstruction of the breast in mastectomized women as a matter of mental health, and not only as an aesthetic desire for them.