Anesthesia for patients with psychiatric illnesses: a narrative review with emphasis on preoperative assessment and postoperative recovery and pain.

The physical and psychological fragility of patients with psychiatric illness poses critical importance in the preoperative assessment, evaluation, and choice of premedication, which includes regular therapy, as well as concerns about polypharmacy with possible interactions of anesthetics, analgesics, and psychiatric medications. A considerable effort is to reduce risks for exacerbations or relapses of imminent illness in the postoperative period. In this narrative review, the goal was also set towards the use of proper tools for the preoperative assessment of anxiety and management of postoperative pain.