Psychological Aspects of Burns

Abstract

From September 1980 to April 1985 143 cases were monitored by means of a battery of psychodiagnostic tests and questionnaires. We introduced the scoring of 4 behaviour ‘clusters’ on a five-point scale expressing different behaviour levels. Burns have proven to be somatopsychic disorders. A relation has been found with the imperative generation of the denial mechanism in persons whose burns are of a more serious nature. Research into the psyche of patients with disfigurement of a visible part of the body has shown that it causes the desintegration of the body schema and alters the burned individual's self-representation. The ‘disfigured face syndrome’ is compared with the ‘character neurosis’ in bum patients.

Key Words:

• Burns/psychology
• scar disfigurement
• self-representation
• body and face image
• emotional care