Fortunately, due to advances in critical care medicine, the survival rate for those who suffer severe burn injuries is higher than it’s ever been. However, with more patients surviving their injuries, medical science now has to learn how injuries such as these impact them psychologically. The physical scars of burn injuries often result in emotional scars as well.
Burn Injury Recovery Phases
According to the Phoenix Society, a society founded for those who suffer from the physical and emotional effects of their injuries, burn patients often go through three stages of recovery. The first phase is all about learning to be comfortable and feel safe in the world around you. This “world” can be everything from your own home to the grocery store.
The second phase is your time to mourn. A burn injury essentially ends much of your old life and you must live life in a completely new way. It isn’t only acceptable but also encouraged to spend time mourning what you’ve lost. However, sharing your story with others during this time can help change a sense of loss to a sense of new beginnings.
The third phase allows you to finally “reconnect” with life. While life may not be the same, you still have a life to live. This phase allows you to do that fully.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Burn Injuries
The American Psychiatric Association defines PTSD as a psychiatric disorder that results from either experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. While car accidents, combat experiences, and sexual assaults qualify as traumatizing, so are accidents and injuries. A burn injury is traumatic not just for your body that has to heal but also your emotional health.
PTSD symptoms include:
- Flashbacks
- Avoidance of people, places, or things that remind you of the event
- Hypervigilance, or always being on guard even in safe places
Initial Burn Injury Treatments
Most treatments for PTSD and other emotional stresses after a burn injury involve therapy. There are several types of therapy that have been found helpful. Usually, one-on-one talk therapy helps someone with a burn injury to put things into perspective and also to learn coping strategies that can be used when anxiety levels are high.
While this is the most common type of therapy treatment used, there are other types as well and someone with burn injuries may find it helpful to engage in several, either at the same time or when the previous therapist feels they are emotionally ready to move to the next step. These other therapy treatments include group therapy where someone can meet and interact with others they can relate to and family therapy that can help the family of the injured person learn about their new difficulties, learn how to cope together with the sudden changes, and also how best to help the family member with the burn injury feel safe and loved again at home.
If you’d like to learn more about the causes of emotional stress after a burn injury and more about the treatment options currently available, the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center, or MSKTC, at the University of Washington together with the US Department of Education has made much of the medical and psychological information much easier to understand in this handy guide.
Even with the latest in both medical and psychological care, suffering a burn injury is a life-changing event. Usually, it means time away from work, months or even years of physical rehabilitation, and emotional therapy that can sometimes last a lifetime. What you shouldn’t have to worry about through all this is how to keep a roof over your family’s head let alone get the help you need. If you have a burn injury and live in Visalia, Merced, Bakersfield, or Fresno then you want to call Martin Gasparian at the Maison Law Firm. Call the office at (559) 203-3333 to schedule a free consultation or email him directly at martin@maisonlaw.com.
