title: [Patient anxiety before surgery].
abstract: At present time we have to face a new quality of fear and anxiety rooted in a social change of fundamental values. Disease and death are being increasingly ruled out from the pattern of everyday life. Therefore, disease and death represent an extreme emotional stress for today's human beings, who find it difficult to assess their significance. Against this background we must view human fear and anxiety before surgery. Nowadays, people have lost the ability of dealing with themselves and their own problems. There is no place for disease in a world dominated by materialism. Accordingly, it is an extreme challenge for any human remain psychologically stable, whereas, anxiety appears increasingly irrational. Both anaesthesiologists and surgeons are responsible for removing anxiety and affording assistance to patients expecting surgery. Consequently, contemporary strategies of therapy include both surgical and psychosocial aspects. Therefore, confidence concerning the relationship between surgeon and patient, consideration of psychosocial factors, and an interdisciplinary approach are essentially necessary to cure the patients from their disease. However, to alleviate and even remove the patients' preoperative anxiety, we must approach and meet the patient on an equal level: from human being to human being.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Chirurgie, Medizinische Universität zu Lübeck.
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Bruch
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schwandner
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012803:Sick Role; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000523:psychology*