Fear Of The Operating Room Or Tomophobia

Having to go into the operating room is a situation that generates anxiety for most people, whether it is something unforeseen or if it has been previously scheduled. In addition, suffering from a pathology and the result that the intervention may have is added. Therefore, the fear of the operating room can cause restlessness, poor appetite, problems sleeping and even a worse recovery.

The feeling of fear depends to some extent on your medical history, the number of interventions you have undergone and the specific conditions of the situation. Even so, generally the patient will have fears based on doubts and ignorance, such as if they will feel pain during the intervention, if the anesthesia will negatively affect them, if they will wake up during the operation … In short, a surgical intervention is a risky situation – major or minor – causing a threat, the main component of fear.

Tomophobia

Although the fear of the operating room is a common response, there are people who feel true panic no matter how simple the operation is. This irrational fear, called tomophobia, generates a considerable stress and anxiety response, even just thinking about the possibility of having an operation.

Like any phobia, the main symptom of tomophobia is intense fear of the object of the phobia, in this case, the operating room. In addition, physical and cognitive symptoms appear. On the one hand, excessive sweating, hyperarousal, vomiting, vertigo, dizziness, a feeling of suffocation, etc. On the other, catastrophic ideas and thoughts about operations are presented. In other words, a negative perception of the situation such as “it will go wrong”, “I will not be able to wake up”, “it will hurt” …

On a behavioral level, undergoing surgery is usually avoided, or else, avoid talking about it, watching fictional scenes about it, or simply listening to stories about it. The main problem in this matter is that someone who suffers from tomophobia could try to avoid going into the operating room, which could put their life at risk or aggravate the medical problem.

How is the fear of the operating room addressed?

As noted above, it is common for patients to fear the operating room. It is a real threat situation and that triggers a stress response to deal with it. In normal conditions, in which the person has a rational fear of the intervention, it will be enough to follow some simple guidelines to handle the situation as well as possible :

• Meet the medical team. Knowing who you are going to be with and dealing with them even briefly will be enough to generate more confidence in the team and, with it, greater peace of mind.

• Ask for more information or seek a second opinion. If you have questions about the procedure, the risks, or the recovery, it is appropriate to ask the medical team until the questions are resolved. And, if you still doubt, you can and should always ask for a second opinion.
• To be accompanied to the consultations. If everything that surrounds the intervention generates a little anxiety, you can be accompanied to the consultations by a family member or close friend to be supportive and ask everything that fear does not allow.
• In the event that the moment of the intervention can be chosen, do it when the person really feels that he is ready to face it.

Surgical psychoprophylaxis

From the health teams, they have developed psychoprophylactic support to help all those people who are afraid of the operating room and must undergo an operation. This support consists of an interdisciplinary team, in which psychology and surgery professionals intervene jointly to give the person coping resources. And, thus, reduce anxiety and fear.

Their intervention, in general, is made up of three stages:

• Pre-surgical stage. The emotional aspects surrounding the operation are worked on first. In other words, an attempt is made to minimize fears, ideas associated with death and pain. In this phase it is essential that the patient exposes all their concerns and doubts to reduce uncertainty as much as possible.
• Intraguirurgical stage. In the time surrounding the operation, the team offers emotional support and more information to the patient, especially at the time of anesthesia. The tranquility that it brings reduces fear and makes the person enter the operating room with much lower levels of anxiety. Likewise, the moment of awakening is key, since the equipment will help you better understand everything that happens: possible changes in the body, unfavorable results, why you are tired, etc.

• Post-surgical stage. At this time pain and possible discomfort will be intervened, as well as in preparation for recovery or rehabilitation.

This type of intervention, in addition to greatly helping people with fear of the operating room in a crucial situation for their life, has shown in several studies that it reduces the use of painkillers during and after the operation.

In short, being afraid of such a situation is completely natural, as well as asking for help to cope better. Therefore, if you have to undergo an intervention and this worries you, do not hesitate to request support and help from family and professionals.