Recovery looks different for different people. The time it takes for one to recover from an experience like an amputation may be different from another individual. It should be stressed that this is a work in progress.

There are six signs of recovery (Livneh & Antonak, 1997):

• A sense of balance in emotions and relationships
• Awareness of abilities and limitations
• Positive self-concept and a sense of accomplishment
• Ability to get around in the environment
• Participation in social, vocational and/or recreational activities
• Setting priorities. 

Many things affect recovery from any life change including amputation.  These fall into four broad categories:

1. issues related to the amputation
2. individual characteristics
3. personality traits
4. characteristics of the physical and social environment

Keep this in mind as you’re talking to the person with whom you’re visiting.

Click on the headings below to learn more about these four categories below.

Reflection Exercise

How to complete this activity and save your work: type your reflective responses to the questions in the box below. When you’re done reflecting on the questions, navigate to the export page to download and save your response. If you prefer to work in a Word document offline, you can skip to the export section and download a Word document of the reflection here.