Predictions of Postoperative Psychiatric Complications

IN the preoperative evaluation of patients a psychiatric opinion is sometimes requested to ascertain how the patient will respond psychologically after surgery. In our experience even well qualified psychiatrists may have widely divergent views of what the postoperative course will be in a given case. The present study was undertaken to explore the extent to which psychiatric evaluations may be accurate in predicting the psychologic course after surgery and on what information an accurate prediction depends. This work continues the interest of the Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatric Service in the psychologic aspects of the surgical patient.1 2 3 4 Review of the Literature . . .