Psychology
Cosmetic Surgery - Plastic Surgery - Aesthetic Medicine - Reconstructive Surgery
Psychology is the scientific study of matters relating
to the spirit and the mind (psychic matters). It is also the ability to
understand peoples’ feelings and behaviour. Psychology focuses on the
human being as a unique being that feels and exists, with his own
personal history, living in a his own situation and who cannot be
fully assimilated to any other.
Aesthetic plastic surgery is not alone in solving the psychological
problems of a patient but may help overcome difficult moments.
In the particular field of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic
surgery, the dialogue between the surgeon qualified in aesthetic
surgery and his/her patient is fundamental to trying to identify the
genuine will of the patient, his/her deep desire to match the image of
his/her body with the one he/she feels deeply. Caution is always
advised before any transformative surgery. Informed consent plays an
essential part in a patient’s decision making process.
Key questions to ask include:
- Does the deformity exist?
- Does the deformity affect patient's psychological state or not?
- Is there a safe and effective surgical method of correcting this deformity?
- After this deformity is corrected will the patient experience a psychological benefit?
The purpose of all these questions is to provide the
patient with full information so that he/she can think about the
strategy, risks and outcomes that are proposed and then freely take the
decision to undergo the surgery or refuse it. The patient has the
right to accept or reject what the doctor offers and nothing is imposed
on him/her. This patient's freedom is a fundamental ethical
requirement, a corollary to the duty to provide information referred to
in the preceding article. A patient's have information is indeed a
prerequisite for his consent, which is a consequence what he/she takes
from this information (art 35.). Like all surgical procedures,
aesthetic surgery involves risks and the law requires the practitioner
to provide information on all of them. There are therapeutic risks,
together with risks from anaesthesia, there is a risk of bleeding,
infection and scarring and there are risks associated with various
implants that are specific to each of them.
In the act of aesthetic surgery, there is a specific risk directly
related to patient motivation, personality and psychology. This risk
exists in the case where the dialogue between surgeon and patient
points to an initial demand which is not about the search for harmony
or the repair of a defect causing visible pain. This may be the case
where the demand comes from an adolescent personality that is not fully
constituted and where children, who are asking for nothing at all, are
brought to the consultation by their parents. . The risk may also
arise in other cases, however, where the patient may consider he will
achieve a change of life or a solution to a psychological problem
through the mere intervention of aesthetic surgery.
Informed consent allows the patient, after receiving information from
his doctor that is clear, understandable and appropriate to his
abilities, to understand the nature of the actions and prescriptions
suggested; why they are useful to his health and what would be the
adverse consequences of refusal. The doctor helps him to reflect, gives
him the explanations he wants, can correct errors of understanding and
remind him of things he has forgotten. . Informed consent is not an
end in itself but the mark of a good relationship with the patient.
The consultation is the time when the unique and special relationship
between patient and physician is established. This consultation is
called "the single dialogue". During the consultation the patient will
expect technical assistance as well as moral and psychological support
from the doctor. A well-known adage reflects what often happens during a
consultation: «Sometimes cure, often relieve, always comfort ». What
takes place during a consultation is a human encounter, a true dual
relationship.
The surgeon, through the consultation (it takes several to allow the
patient to make his decision in full knowledge of the facts) and
informed consent, will guide the patient in deciding whether he/she is
willing to go ahead surgery or not.