In part one of this two-part series on understanding Acquired Brain Injuries, we looked at what a brain injury is, how it’s categorized, and how to measure severity of the damage. Now, we are going to look at the common consequences of a brain injury!
Common consequences of Brain Injury exist in a few different domains: cognitive, physical, emotional, behavioral, and social.
Common cognitive effects include:
- Impaired short and/or long-term memory
- Inability to create new memories
- Difficulty learning new things
- Communication concerns, such as impaired speech or understanding
- Mental confusion
- Difficulty processing information and slowed processing speed
- Attention and concentration problems
- Inability to recognize common things
- Executive skill impairments, including difficulty planning and organizing
- Lack of self-awareness to cognitive changes
Common physical effects include:
- Paresis, or paralysis in certain body areas and reduced mobility
- Ataxia, or poor motor coordination and tremor
- Sensory loss, including taste and smell
- Hearing impairment or tinnitus
- Visual difficulties, including diplopia
- Balance problems
- Dizziness
- Headaches
- Fatigued and decreased energy levels
- Epilepsy
Common emotional, behavioral, and social effects:
- Lowered tolerance of frustration, which can cause outbursts of anger
- Rapid mood swings
- Emotional lability, where an individual will cry or laugh more easily
- Reduced emotional sensitivity or increased apathy
- Reduced motivation, initiative, and ambition
- Impulsiveness, or disinhibition
- Anxiety
- Adjustment issues
- Substance misuse
- Depression
- Isolation
- Obsessiveness or fixation on specific topics
- Inflexibility or intense adherence to routine
- Limited Self-Awareness
However, it is important to understand that lasting deficits vary greatly from person to person in terms of severity and type. No two brain injuries are the same, so while you might see memory problems in most survivors, it is different for everyone.
A lot of this depends on the area of the brain the person injured and how that area connects to brain function.
If you want to learn more about how that works, we have a quick video on it:
That’s all for today, folks! The next few weeks will be dedicated to looking at a few common cognitive effects in greater detail. First up: Memory!
Remember to follow along on social media for updates!
