Psychological reactions in the (I.C.U.) Department of Animation

The Psycho-reactive problems affecting patients, relatives and staff in the intensive care unit are discussed in this article. These problems are usually due to the ad­mitting disease itself, ( obvious anxiety of the patient who has just had a coronary infarc­tion agitation of the patient with incipient respiratory failure) or psycho-reactive problems arising directly from the I.C.U. environ­ment. To avoid these problems reassurance and repeated simple expanation of the need for machines and what they do, is necessary. The mentally confused, hypoxic patient will need sedation and rug therapy to allay anxiety, panic and apprehension.