Effectiveness of surgical treatment of refractory psychiatric disorders

Since the first psychosurgery in Fujian Province in 2005, our department has successfully completed more than 2,800 cases of various types of refractory psychiatric surgery, with the highest efficacy and scale in China. 10-year follow-up analysis shows that most patients can basically relieve their symptoms 3-6 months after surgery, and can perform normal family work or social work after 1 year. The surgical incision is small, does not affect the aesthetics, has no obvious complications, and does not affect fertility or intelligence. The surgery is effective in hallucinations, delusions, depression, compulsions, suicidal behaviors, excitement and impulsiveness, temper tantrums, hitting, cursing, sensitivity and suspicious behaviors, and the patients’ quality of life and social functions are significantly improved. Through the analysis of 2800 cases of refractory psychiatric surgery, it was found that the stabilization and improvement of surgical results were closely related to regular review, timing of surgery, compliance with medication and proper guidance of patients by their families. 1. Regular postoperative review is the key to ensure stable surgical results. As long as the patient insists on regular review, the recurrence rate after surgery is low, and the social function and self-care ability can be improved year by year. 2. The earlier the surgery is performed, the better the surgical effect and the better the improvement of cognitive ability and self-care ability. 3. Taking medication as instructed and avoiding unauthorized reduction of medication are important factors to prevent recurrence. After surgery, many patients’ symptoms improve significantly, and many patients and their families think that their condition is better, so they reduce their medication or do not take it, which leads to relapse of their condition. Since the cause of psychosis is not yet completely clear, surgical treatment of psychosis cannot achieve a complete cure, so it is important to insist on taking medication after surgery. In principle, we do not advocate complete reduction to discontinuation of medication in patients recovering from surgery, even if the symptoms completely disappear and social functions return to normal, the minimum maintenance amount should be maintained, because the retention of low-dose drug concentrations has an important role in preventing relapse and balancing the neural circuit of behavioral and emotional responses. 4. The correct guidance of postoperative family members is a key factor to improve the social function of patients. Postoperative family members should adjust their mindset, treat the patient as a normal person, change the way of communication and education, improve the harmony of family members, and avoid stimulating the patient; encourage them to participate in some social activities and rehabilitation exercises that are beneficial to physical and mental health, try to participate in labor and work within their ability to avoid the patient to eat spicy and stimulating food, closely observe the changes of the patient’s symptoms, and report to the physician in time. With proper communication and guidance from family members, supervision of patients’ medication and reasonable diet, most patients’ self-care ability and social function will be significantly improved one year after surgery.