Emotional Effects of Lower-Limb Amputation in the Aged

Abstract

THE emotional responses of people to the loss of an extremity have been dealt with by a number of investigators. In most of these studies the subjects have been young, and attention has been chiefly focused on the curious phenomenon of the phantom limb.¹ In the last few years we have examined a number of elderly patients with amputations. From this group 12 were selected for intensive study. Ten of these 12 patients complained of phantom sensations, but far more troubling was another postoperative manifestation that has not been thoroughly discussed in the literature: in each case a serious reactive . . .