Psychological Meaning of a Woman with a Hysterectomy Among Mexican Physicians and Women

Abstract

The psychological meaning of women who have had a hysterectomy, and attitudes toward them, were explored in 121 Mexican gynecologists, 155 women who had undergone a hysterectomy, and 115 women who had not had a hysterectomy. The surveys were completed between January and May 2011. Both groups of women defined a woman who had had a hysterectomy using words with positive meanings (healthy, happy, reassured, and complete), as well as words with negative meanings (sad, incomplete, and irritable). However, the participants who had not had a hysterectomy defined a woman who had had a hysterectomy using more negative words and showed more negative attitudes toward such a woman with a hysterectomy than those women who had undergone a hysterectomy. Among participants who had undergone a hysterectomy, those who were premenopausal prior to the surgery and those who had undergone bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy defined a woman who had had a hysterectomy in a more negative manner and showed the most negative attitudes. The gynecologists did not use words with emotional content regarding women who had had a hysterectomy and showed more neutral attitudes toward such a woman than did both groups of women. These findings could be helpful in designing support programs for women facing a hysterectomy.

Absent organs—Present selves: Exploring embodiment and gender identity in young Norwegian women's accounts of hysterectomy

“…A recent survey in Mexico mapping attitudes to hysterectomy among three different groups: gynaecologists, women who had been through hysterectomy and women who had not had hysterectomy, concluded that although there were negative characteristics (sadness, incompleteness, irritableness) involved, there were mostly positive meanings relating to hysterectomy (Marván, Catillo-Loez, & Ehrenzweig, 2012 ). Interestingly, the group in the Mexican study tending to attach the most negative meanings to hysterectomy was the group of women who had not undergone the procedure.…”

Psychological Statuses of Premenopausal Women Before and After Hysterectomy

“…Hysterectomy is a very common gynecological surgery with approximately 50,000 women recipients each year in the United States alone. Since the uterus plays a special social, sexual, and psychological role, diseases and surgeries that are related with the uterus can bring forth very high incidence rate of psychiatric disorders [1,2]. With the change in the socio-biomedical model, change of the psychological status of women before and after hysterectomy has become a focus of study in the psychosomatic medicine [3,4].…”