Surviving with an "artificial heart". Experience of supportive psychotherapy with a 30 year old female patient

In addition to bridging until the planned heart transplant operation the "a rtificial heart" is being used increasingly as a temporary support in cases of acute heart failure caused by myocarditis. The following article is a d escription of psychotherapeutical intervention in the form of supportive ps ychotherapy carried out on a 30 year old female patient who was connected f or 17 days, in an intensive care unit, to a ventricular assist device (VAD) . From a psychosocial point of view the main factors which contributed to t he successful outcome were the patient's trust in the doctors' methods of t reatment, the positive social and emotional support from those involved in her treatment and from her family, the verbalization of concerns, fantasies and emotions and the promotion of the patient's "fighting spirit". This ca se study is a model-based description of psychotherapeutic intervention pos sibilities as part of bio-psychosocial treatment in patients with an artifi cial heart.