PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF WOMEN WITH MASTECTOMIES: LITERATURE REVIEW

Jordana Nascimento Machado, Lara Nascimento Machado, Marcela Diniz Rassi Rincon, Lorrayne Silva Pequeno, Juliana Cascao de Paiva Gomes, Roberta Rodrigues Pacheco Abrão, Clayson Moura Gomes

Institution: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás

“OBJECTIVES: To review the literature about the psycho-emotional aspects of women with mastectomies, focusing on their experiences before the diagnosis of breast cancer, their period of treatment and post-treatment. METHODS: A search was conducted in the Journals database Capes, PubMed and Google Scholar, who had as inclusion criteria: published in scientific text format; available in its entirety; published in the period of 2015-2016; written in Portuguese and English; and that adressed psychosocial aspects in women with mastectomies. 25 articles were found. RESULTS: Mastectomy is one of the most likely treatments for breast cancer in women with delayed diagnosis. By acquiring the meaning of loss and physical mutilation, this treatment entails emotional consequences as. “”Concern””, “”anger””, “”fear””, “”anxiety”” and “”pursuit of religiosity””. Mastectomy undermines self-esteem and when related to chemotherapy, this impact further increases due to side effects. The woman notices changes in body posture and a committed physical beauty to undergo the removal of the breast. In addition, the use of the prosthesis emphasized the fact that these women did not feel the same before the permanent body mutilation. After the phase of acceptance, feelings of surprise and concern with the evolution of the postoperative period are experienced. The great difficulty to be faced by women after mastectomy is the self-acceptance, as looking into the mirror and realizing that your body is different, due to the fact that the the symbol of femininity, sexuality and motherhood they had was depreciated. that had DISCUSSION:. From the analysis of the selected papers, the study points to the lack of focused scientific production for the psychosocial dimension mastectomies in women. Articles that discuss this patient’s subjective dimension with breast cancer are still incipient, and the evidence found suggests that the literature shows limited to issues of interest to the traditional professions of health, such as nursing and medicine, noting studies that can be directly quantified. Thus, justified the need for publications including the importance of the emotional factor to combat the disease, from diagnosis to rehabilitation.

Key words: mastectomy, breast câncer, psychoemotional. body image, woman health