In this study, the psychological reactions to mastectomy and the patterns of their transition were systematically described and analysed.
46 post-mastectomy patients ranged in age from 28 to 73 (mean 48.89) were interviewed. The interview was planned during from 12 to 45 post-operative days for 10 to 90 min. (mean time 27.09)
Findings, 7 patterns of illness behavior were observed. The psychological reactions to the first awareness of a lump in the breast were "must be cancer" , "might be cancer" , or "might not be cancer" . After diagnosis was established, the distortion of psychological time and loneliness were experienced. On admission, relief and calmness were obtained temporarily, but at the same time, a sense of being trapped was strongly felt by most patients. Some time between admission and surgery, mental serenity was gained and most patients thought themselves as being self-possessed. The senses of completion and insurance of life, anxiety, loss of self-confidence, renunciation and mental pain were observed right after operation. The reactions to the permission of discharge were 1) satisfaction, happiness and self-confidence, 2) anxiety, 3) discontent.
The functions of the breast were viewed as the symbols of femaleness and motherliness. When a loss of a breast was self-awared, anger, sorrow, loss of self-confidence and sense of sin were experienced.
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