The Coronary-Care Unit

Abstract

THE frequency of psychiatric difficulties in intensive-care units ranges from 30 to 70 per cent. Confinement in these units is described as an "ordeal,"1 and the patient's expected psychologic response is presented as one of "catastrophic reaction."2 Although the study from which this last term developed was conducted on postcardiotomy patients in the setting of the recovery room, there has been a growing tendency to apply it to all situations of intensive care. This is an unfortunate application because intensive-care settings differ remarkably as do the emotional responses of the patients they house. The question of whether patients in coronary-care . . .