In a surgery situation we can clearly find three types of stress, (1) the stress derived from the assessment of the surgical situation as a threat, injury or loss (psychological stress), (2) the stress derived from the illness itself, and (3) the stress derived from surgery itself (surgical stress). Stress can be reduced if the patient is trained to cope with certain strategies. Results will be related to clinical and economical issues, provided that the length of the stay at the hospital will be shorter and the intake of analgesics and sedatives will decrease. This paper is a theoretical review about the psychological techniques adapted to the hospital setting which have demonstrated to be more effective in the assessment and reduction of the pre-surgical anxiety.
pre-surgical anxiety; assessment; intervention techniques