Mental health of patients undergone myacardial infarction

Physical, psychological and social variables influence adaptation to disease. Psychological disease-adaptation affects all the factors related to disease and treatment. Similarly, psychological disease-adaptation may affect the course of disease favorably or adversely. Also patients’ disease-adaptation may vary depending on individual's personality, physical and psychological strength, socio-cultural characteristics, psycho-social stressors, tendency toward disease, negative feelings about disease, coping methods, previous experiences, life-style, hereditary features, support received from family members, type of disease or loss and the approach of therapy team to patient. The mental and behavioral problems that accompany physical diseases affect patient's adaptation, care, length and cost of treatment, wellbeing, course of disease, mortality and morbidity adversely. Cardiac diseases and especially myocardial infarction (MI) are among the diseases where psychiatric complications develop most often. In myocardial infarction, psychological problems as well as serious physical problems may appear in individuals who suffer from a disease which causes a threat for death and bodily image. Individuals, along with their personal characteristics, are influenced from such factors as depression, anxiety, stress, need for information related to disease, to manage disease under control and need for social support. When literature was reviewed it was reported that patients’ mental health was influenced by factors such as self-respect, social stress, social support, psychological support, emotional problems, status of physical and psychological efficiency, perceptions toward disease, coping strategies, relationships with health professionals and cooperation.