Effects of Early Comprehensive Psychological Interventions on Negative Emotions in Patients with Facial Spasm Undergoing Microvascular Decompression

Purpose: This study was undertaken to assess the effects of early psychological interventions on negative emotions in patients with facial spasm undergoing microvascular decompression. Methods: A total of 164 cases of patients with facial spasm undergoing microvascular decompression were included in the study. They were randomly divided into two groups: the patients in the control group (81 cases) were given conventional nursing care and the patients in the experimental group (83 cases) were given early comprehensive psychological interventions including cognitive therapy, behavior therapy and supportive therapy. All participants were evaluated with the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) before and after the nursing interventions. Results: Before intervention, the SAS and SDS scores of patients in experimental group were 51.70±9.49 and 44.99±10.25, respectively, they were 50.92±10.25 and 44.27± 9.93 in control group. No significant (p\u003e0.05) differences in SAS and SDS scores were found before nursing interventions. After intervention, the SAS and SDS scores of patients in experimental group were 34.33±9.56 and 29.55±7.64. The SAS and SDS scores were 40.65±12.06 and 35.36 ± 8.66 in control group. Patients receiving early comprehensive psychological interventions got much lower SAS and SDS scores than those in the control group and the differences between them were statically significant (p\u003c0.05). Conclusion: The results from this study and published data support the conclusion that early comprehensive psychological intervention is beneficial to alleviate the negative emotions and promote mental health in patients with hemifacial spasms undergoing microvascular decompression. However, further extensive work will be required to study more in depth.