What Types of Mental Disorders May Be Seen in Individuals With Postpolio Sequelae?
Some polio survivors report the onset of problems with attention, concentration, cognition, or behavior. Some researchers have suggested that certain cognitive and behavioral deficits are the result of the prior polio infection that involved the brain, although others do not agree with that concept. Other researchers have suggested that the traumatic psychological experiences associated with acute polio infection are revived when polio survivors recognize the onset of further weakness and functional loss. Many polio survivors endured a life-threatening infection as young children. They may have spent extended periods away from their homes and families while hospitalized with paralysis or respiratory dysfunction, or while undergoing multiple orthopedic surgeries. Often they endured many months, or sometimes years, of hospitalization and rehabilitation. The psychological effect of perceiving the onset of further weakness, fatigue, respiratory dysfunction or joint pain, many years followi
