Abstract

SEREN, Renata  and  DE TILIO, Rafael. The experience of mourning and its stages among amputated people. Rev. SPAGESP [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.64-78. ISSN 1677-2970.

The amputation of a body part has an impact on a person's life involving affective changes (sadness, phantom limb and bereavement). The aim of this study was to investigate how amputees deal with the loss of a body part and their grieving process. Four amputees (mean age 56.5 years), patients of a rehabilitation center Minas Gerais/Brazil, were interviewed. A thematic content analysis was conducted, and the main findings were: different reactions when receiving the news of the amputation, reported persistence of phantom limb pain several years after amputation and different living prospects. The grieving process due to the amputation should be understood as a dynamic process, not as a stage, depending on individual and social conditions of amputees involving complex psychological consequences.

Keywords : mourning; amputation; phantom limb.

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