Emotional Responses of Burned Children in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A thirty-bed hospital for acute and reconstructive treatment of thermal injuries in children has afforded an opportunity to investigate: 1) early development and personality in the pre-burn child, 2) emotional responses to the injury and hospitalization, 3) the role of emotions in the clinical course of treatment, and 4) long-term adjustment to the physical and emotional trauma of burns. The focus is on clinical observations and evaluations made by a consultant in child psychiatry on a four-bed intensive care unit. The role of the intensive care unit environment, immobilization, and the interplay of patients on one another, as well as the environment-mind-body interrelationships, are illustrated by four case vignettes. Psychological thoughts regarding somatic responses of ulcers, hypertension, and central nervous system manifestations of hallucinatory-like and seizure-like phenomena are made. These vignettes attempt to show how the emotional needs of a burned child, especially in an intensive care unit, must receive the same emphasis as his physical needs.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: