Emotional rehabilitation of the physical rehabilitation patient.

Emphasis on the process and content of the emotional aspects of rehabilitation are presented as a process interwoven with a patient's physical rehabilitation. The impact of trauma and subsequent rehabilitation involves for patients the resolution of these stages: shock, denial, depressive reaction, reaction against independence, and adaptation. Factors which facilitate and impede the negotiation of these steps on both the part of the patient and attending staff are examined from the prospective of the psychiatrist as a member of the medical rehabilitation team.