Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and Phantom limb pain among Amputees

Abstract

Phantom limb pain affects close to 80% of all amputees and is one of the heavily studied areas in orthopaedics globally. Phantom limb pain is a result of either traumatic or non traumatic amputations. However, the emotional and psychological sequelea that is associated with traumatic amputations has been linked to several factors including but not limited to Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Phantom pain.Traumatic amputations are life saving and occur as a result of mainly road traffic accidents, war and industrial accidents. The purpose of the study was to establish the difference in severity in PTSD, depression and phantom limb pain among amputees who had a traumatic amputation compared to those who did not. This was a quantitative study that used both comparative and correlational research designs. Standardized tools and a social demographic questionnaire were used to collect data from 130 participants who consented to be a part of this study. Eligible participants were selected using the purposive sampling method. SPSS Version 22 was used in data entry and analysis. Results showed that there were significant differences in the severity of PTSD, and phantom limb pain, and depression, among amputees who had experienced a traumatic amputation as compared to those that did not. The results from the study also found a significant relationship between PTSD and depression and also between depression and phantom limb pain. Depression was not found to be a significant mediator between PTSD and phantom limb pain. The mean scores for PTSD, depression and phantom limb pain were found to be significantly higher among individuals who had a traumatic amputation compared to those who did not have one. It is therefore prudent to suggest that interventions and guidelines for the care and management of traumatic amputations are put in place to consider not only the physical, life saving aspect related to traumatic amputations but to the emotional and psychological sequalae associated with tragic limb loss