Psychological Complications of Hysterectomy *

Abstract

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a study which was carried out at the Royal Brisbane Hospital between September 1970 and December 1971 on 100 women who had been admitted for hysterectomy.

Pre-operative prediction was made as to the likelihood of a well-adjusted or mal-adjusted outcome on the basis of a semi-structured psychiatric interview.

Follow-up assessments were made six months post-operatively and correlated significantly with the predicted outcome.

Reference is made to factors which related positively to a mal-adjusted outcome and the implications of the study are discussed.