Severe burn injuries provide researchers with an opportunity to study the effects of painful but usually transient trauma on psychological functioning. To that end, this article presents a review of the 3 main areas of this body of literature: (a) premorbid characteristics of people who sustain severe burn injuries, (b) psychological reactions during hospitalization, and (c) long-term adjustment. The general implications of these studies are discussed and then used to illuminate the circumstances under which individuals suffer the most from this type of trauma, the effects of such injuries on personality function, and how meaningful units of measurements can be defined. Potential clinical applications are also described.

Excessive pain during medical procedures performed in unanesthetized patients is frequently reported, but can be reduced with virtual reality (VR) distraction. Increasing the person's illusion of going into the virtual world may increase how effectively VR distracts pain. Healthy volunteers aged 18-20 years participated in a double-blind between-groups design. Each subject received a brief baseline thermal pain stimulus, and the same stimulus again minutes later with either a Low Tech or a High Tech VR distraction. Each subject provided subjective 0-10 ratings of cognitive, sensory and affective components of pain, and rated their illusion of going inside the virtual world. Subjects in the High Tech VR group reported a stronger illusion of going into the virtual world (VR presence) than subjects in the Low Tech VR group, (4.2 vs. 2.5, respectively, P = 0.009) and more pain reduction (reduction of worst pain is 3.1 for High Tech VR vs. 0.7 for Low Tech VR, P < 0.001). Across groups, the amount of pain reduction was positively and significantly correlated with VR presence levels reported by subjects ( r = 0.48 for 'worst pain', P < 0.005).

The authors examined the impact of coaching behaviors on players' self-enhancement processes. Eight baseball coaches attended a preseason workshop designed to increase their supportiveness and instructional effectiveness. Behavioral guidelines were presented and modeled. A no-treatment control group had 10 coaches. Boys (N = 152) in both groups were interviewed pre- and postseason. Trained coaches differed from controls in player-perceived behaviors in accordance with the guidelines. They were evaluated more positively by their players, their players had more fun, and their teams exhibited a higher level of attraction among players, despite the fact that their teams did not differ from controls in won-lost records. Consistent with a self-esteem enhancement model, findings showed that boys with low self-esteem who played for the trained coaches exhibited significant increases in general self-esteem; low self-esteem youngsters in the control group did not.

The clinical utility of hypnosis for controlling pain during burn wound debridement was investigated. Thirty hospitalized burn patients and their nurses submitted visual analog scales (VAS) for pain during 2 consecutive daily wound debridements. On the 1st day, patients and nurses submitted baseline VAS ratings. Before the next day's would debridement, Ss received hypnosis, attention and information, or no treatment. Only hypnotized Ss reported significant pain reductions relative to pretreatment baseline. This result was corroborated by nurse VAS ratings. Findings indicate that hypnosis is a viable adjunct treatment for burn pain. Theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are discussed.