Burns Leave Serious Emotional Scars

Bob Carroll

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In burn patients, treating the physical injury may only be treating half the problem. Depression often goes along with a serious burn.

Burn Patients Need More Help Coping With Depression

A new study reveals the full extent of psychological problems among people who have spent years recovering from serious burns. About half of those surveyed showed signs of clinical depression, with women being most vulnerable.

While the study findings may not be surprising, specialists are calling them a valuable tool that could spur burn centers to devote more resources to mental healing.

"In addition to looking at whether we can fix this or alter that through plastic surgery, we also need to screen people for depression," said lead author Brett Thombs, who worked on the study at Johns Hopkins University.

The findings appear in the January/February issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

In my experience in Florida, the emotional scars may have more of an impact upon a burn victim than the physical ones. One of the unique situations in the Sunshine State is that more of the body is commonly exposed no matter the season.