Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T05:03:39.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psycho-social Transitions: Comparison between Reactions to Loss of a Limb and Loss of a Spouse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Colin Murray Parkes
Colin Murray Parkes*
Affiliation:
St. Christopher's Hospice, Sydenham, London, S.E.26
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In 21 widows and 46 amputees a psychological reaction to loss designated as ‘grief’ was commonly reported. This included an initial period of numbness, soon followed by restless pining with preoccupation with thoughts of the loss, a clear visual memory of the lost object and a sense of its presence. Defensive processes, reflected in difficulty in believing in the loss and avoidance of reminders, were also evident.

Widows differed from amputees in showing more evidence of overt distress in the early post-loss phase, but whereas these features diminished in prevalence in the course of the next year the equivalent features reported by the amputee group remained virtually unchanged.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 127 , Issue 3 , September 1975 , pp. 204 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment . Volume 1 of Attachment and Loss. London: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. & Parkes, C. M. (1970) Separation and Loss. In The Child in his Family. Volume 1 of International Yearbook of Child Psychiatry and Allied Professions (ed. Anthony, E. J. and Koupernik, C.). New York: John Wiley; Paris: Masson et Cie.Google Scholar
Cantril, H. (1950) The ‘Why’ of Man's Experience. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Dembo, T., Ladieu-Leviton, C., & Wright, B. A. (1952) ‘Acceptance of loss—amputation’. In Psychological Aspects of Physical Disabilities (ed. Garrett, J. F.). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Fisher, S. H. (1960) Psychiatric considerations of hand disability. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 41, 62.Google ScholarPubMed
Kessler, H. H. (1951) Psychological preparation of the amputee. Industrial Medicine and Surgery, 20, 107–8.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1970a) The first year of bereavement. Psychiatry, 33, 442–67.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1970b) Seeking and finding a lost object: evidence from recent studies of the reaction to bereavement. Social Science & Medicine, 4, 187–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parkes, C. M. (1971) Psycho-social transitions: A field for study. Social Science & Medicine, 5: 101–15.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1972a) Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life. London: Penguin Books; New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1972b) Components of the reaction to loss of a limb, spouse or home. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 16, 343–9.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1973) Factors determining the persistence of phantom pain in the amputee. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 17, 97–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parkes, C. M. (1975) The psychological reaction to loss of a limb: The first year after amputation. Awaiting publication in Modern Perspectives in the Psychiatric Aspects of Surgery (ed. Howells, J. G.). New York: Brunner/Mazel Inc.Google Scholar
Wittkower, E. (1947) Rehabilitation of the limbless: joint surgical and psychological study. Occupational Medicine, 3, 20.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.