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COUNSELLING THE HYSTERECTOMY PATIENT
Author(s) -
Wren Barry G.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1978.tb112479.x
Subject(s) - psychosexual development , hysterectomy , regret , libido , neurosis , medicine , depression (economics) , gynecology , uterus , femininity , general surgery , psychology , psychiatry , surgery , psychoanalysis , machine learning , computer science , economics , macroeconomics
The problem of psychosexual disorders following hysterectomy is reviewed. A search of the current literature suggests that a large number of women who have post‐hysterectomy depression, loss of libido, or other neuroses have a previous history of depression and neurosis, that they have a generally poor knowledge of their own anatomy and physiology, or that they have received poor counselling and explanation from their own doctor. The fact that the decision to perform a hysterectomy may have been incorrect has also been suggested as a possible cause for regret for the loss of their uterus in some women, whilst in others it is often related to the concept that the uterus is the source of a woman's femininity and the loss of this organ makes her less than a woman. A regime of counselling and the use of an explanatory pamphlet is proposed for all women who are to have a hysterectomy.