Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:883-890
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Overview: psychiatric sequelae to multiple trauma
N Schnaper and RA Cowley
The authors discuss the setting, patients, and staff, and the role of
psychiatric consultants in intensive care units and trauma centers. They
point out the similarities and differences between patients with multiple
trauma and those who have had open-heart surgery and head or spinal cord
injuries. They also deal with the question of an element of
self-destructive behavior in accidents and offer suggestions for the
psychiatric management of severely traumatized patients. The authors
conclude that the role and obligation of the psychiatrist of the the future
will lie in crisis intervention within the medical-biological model.
