Those who suffer a major burn often develop PTSD – but support is lagging behind

The challenges of recovering from burn injury (including mental health challenges) are largely unknown in our community. To help decrease the long-term mental health problems arising from burns injury, a greater understanding of the traumatic nature of the injury and the recovery to better inform care for burns survivors and their families is needed. Around 11 million burn injuries occur each year globally. In Australia, approximately 200,000 people sustain a burn injury each year. The WHO have identified burns as a leading cause of injury that often causes stigma affecting daily life. A severe burn is an injury for life, and a common one, often accompanied by physical and emotional trauma. Despite this, we do not automatically link the burn injury with the risk of mental ill-health in the same way that we link smoking with cancer or violence with trauma.