Zipfel S, Löwe B, Schneider A, Herzog W, Bergmann G
Medizinische Universitätsklinik-Innere Medizin II Schwerpunkt Allgemeine Klinische und Psychosomatische Medizin, Heidelberg.
Psychother Psychosom Med Psychol. 1999 Jun;49(6):187-94.
From a medical perspective, heart transplantation is now an established procedure for the treatment of patients with terminal heart failure. For the patient involved, it presents itself as a situation of great psychological distress, particularly during the waiting period. In the last few years, this situation has grown worse due to the decline in the number of donor organs and the resulting longer waiting period. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate this phase of the transplantation procedure in a follow-up study. 52 patients could be assessed in follow-up. Although the patients had already differed from the healthy control group in the areas of depression, quality of life, and physical complaints (p < 0.001) at the beginning of the study, there was a significant increase of depression and a further decline in the reported quality of life in the course of the study. The patients presented themselves as having a low internal and a significantly increased external and fatalistic locus of control. The study stresses the necessity for supportive psychotherapeutic therapy in these patients.
