How Anxiety And Depression Make Healing After Surgery Slower And Harder

Anxiety and depression make handling everyday life more difficult, but it seems these conditions also make healing from surgery considerably harder. That’s according to a large study of individuals undergoing four types of surgeries, experiencing a range of depression and anxiety symptoms.

The study included just under 177,000 patients having hip replacement, knee replacement, hernia and varicose vein surgeries over a two-year period. The researchers were careful to account for factors that typically influence surgery outcomes, including other health conditions, demographics, complexity of the procedure and when it was performed.

The results show that after taking into account all of those factors, patients with moderate anxiety or depression were more likely to have wound complications and to be readmitted to the hospital, and on average had longer hospital stays. Those with more severe anxiety and depression tended to have worse complications.

​The results reveal something important about the effects of the two most common mental disorders that humans experience. It’s not just that they’re obstacles to better self-care (though they certainly are that), but it seems they also take a toll on physical health from the inside out.

The patients in this study were physically less able to heal than those without depression or anxiety, adding support to the ancient axiom that conditions of the mind directly manifest in the body.

The study also offers a takeaway for medical professionals, to not underestimate the important of psychological health before any major procedure. "The study emphasizes the importance of the psychological state before surgery,” said lead study author Philip Britteon in a press statement, “and the fact that psychological disorders are often overlooked. Preoperative assessment should address psychological as well as physical health, given the significant impact of anxiety/depression on wound-related complications and readmissions."

​Source Forbes