Clinical strategies for detecting and treating heart surgery-related mental disorders represents an increasingly important challenge to consultation -liaison (C -L) psychiatry. In this context a variety of short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term studies examining psychiatric and psychosocial outcome of patients of cardiac surgery employing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) have to be considered. To sum up, major cardiac surgery with CPB such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) is associated with significant improvements in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) relative to the preoperative period. On the other hand, impairments in HRQOL were found in a subgroup of post-CABG patients with evidence of depression, posttraumatic stress syndrome, or cognitive deficits in the short-, intermediate-, and longterm course. We therefore underscore the need for early and comprehensive bio-psycho-social diagnosis and therapy of post-CABG patients. Close collaboration between cardiac surgeons, C -L psychiatrists, medical psychologists, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, and internists will be necessary.