The treatment of children aged 1-18 who experienced physical pain from
an acute burn and the emotional pain of disfigurement offers a prototype
for treatment of pain and understanding its impact on the child's emotional
life. The author presents an initial report on differential response to and
treatment of burn pain in infancy, the preschool years, latency,
preadolescence, and adolescence. He describes the basic therapeutic
interventions for such children, including psychological preparation,
consistent "holding" relationships, selective reinforcement of denial,
tolerance of regression, medications, and hypnosis or relaxation
techniques.Abstract Teaser