Research Paper

1. The Grieving and Psychological Impact on Amputees Joe Rodriguez Argosy University, Seattle

2. Grieving and Psychological Impact on Amputees 2005 – 1.6 million people were living with loss of the limbs Projected by 2050 will be 3.6 million (Ziegler-Graham, 2008) How does amputation impact people psychologically and how does it relate to the grieving process?

3. Psychologically Amputee may experience many of the same emotions that accompany bereavement Often pass unrecognized Postoperative grief is the universal reaction to the loss of limb like that of losing a loved one May lead to the more general process of mourning and perhaps later even depression With grief comes the tendency for preoccupation, of introspection and to some extent a distancing of the amputee from the real world. Guilt, fear and anger are not unusual emotions when losing a limb to amputation.

4. Psychological factors and Coping strategies associated with poor outcomes after amputation Catastrophizing Perceived vulnerability Avoidance Helplessness (Hill, 2006)

5. 5 stages of Grief as associated in the context of limb loss: Denial/Isolation “This is impossible. It’s not really happening!” Anger “Why is this happening to me? I’m enraged!” Bargaining “If I promise to be a better person, maybe I’ll get my old life back.” Depression “I feel hopeless. Everything is beyond my control. Why bother trying? I give up.” Acceptance “I don’t like it, but the amputation is a reality. I’ll find ways to make the best of it and go on.” (Chapman, 2010)

7. How to help Have a close circle of family and friends Eat balance diet Drink enough non-alcoholic fluids Get exercise Have a good rest

8. Findings Depression among sixty-five percent of amputees (Langer,2004) Distortion of body image (Fisher, 2010) Emotional and Psychological Impact

9. Strengths Depression diminishing over time Increase in support groups and agencies Breakdown of emotional and psychological factors

10. Weaknesses In many cases taking up to ten years to see results with regard to depression Decreased sexual drive or intimacy due to self-conscious and embarrassment of body appearance Resources for helping people with amputees

11. Conclusion There is no cookbook answer to help amputees cope with their emotions, but often seeing a counselor and/or working with a peer may be helpful strategies. More research will be needed to better help amputees both psychologically and in the grieving process. I think more being done early in the process of amputation will yield better results.

12. References A,C. (2010). On death and dying. Grief Cycle. Retrieved March 21, 2011, From http://businessballs.com A,H. (2006) The role of coping with in adjustment to phantom-limb pain. Psychosomatics, 47, 459-464. Fisher, A.,& Thompson,D. (2010). Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space-A vision for virtual military amputee support. Journal of rehabilitation Research & Development, 47 (6),vii-xi. K,L. (2004). Severity and patterns of self-reported symptoms in three groups. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 7, 1121-1128 Ziegler-Grahm, K.(2008). Estimating the prevalence of limb loss in the United States. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 89, 422-429