title: Persistence of psychological distress in surgical patients with interest in psychotherapy: results of a 6-month follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This prospective observational study investigated whether self-reported psychological distress and alcohol use problems of surgical patients change between preoperative baseline assessment and postoperative 6-month follow-up examination. Patients with preoperative interest in psychotherapy were compared with patients without interest in psychotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1,157 consecutive patients from various surgical fields completed a set of psychiatric questionnaires preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively, including Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), World Health Organization 5-item Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Additionally, patients were asked for their interest in psychotherapy. Repeated measure ANCOVA was used for primary data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  16.7% of the patients were interested in psychotherapy. Compared to uninterested patients, they showed consistently higher distress at both baseline and month 6 regarding all of the assessed psychological measures (p's between <0.001 and 0.003). At 6-month follow-up, neither substantial changes over time nor large time x group interactions were found. Results of ANCOVA's controlling for demographic variables were confirmed by analyses of frequencies of clinically significant distress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In surgical patients with interest in psychotherapy, there is a remarkable persistence of elevated self-reported general psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and alcohol use disorder symptoms over 6 months. This suggests high and chronic psychiatric comorbidity and a clear need for psychotherapeutic and psychiatric treatment rather than transient worries posed by facing surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Campus Charité Mitte and Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Léonie F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Kerper
authors.forename: Claudia D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Spies
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lößner
authors.forename: Anna-Lena
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Salz
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tafelski
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balzer
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weiß-Gerlach
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Heide
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Glaesmer
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brähler
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Krampe
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011613:Psychotherapy; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000628:therapy*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires