Clinical Importance of Emotional Problems in the Care of Patients with Burns

Abstract

IN a study of victims of the Coconut Grove fire, Cobb and Lindemann1 recorded a high incidence of emotional disturbances soon after burning and concluded that both the psychiatrist and the social worker may play an important role in the care of disaster victims. During the past two and a half years, experience with over 400 burns2 , 3 has shown that serious emotional problems exist in extensively burned patients and that the management of these problems is an integral part of the over-all therapy.To obtain a better understanding of emotional adjustment in severe burns, 12 patients who had full-thickness burns . . .