Traumatic brain injury can have wide-ranging physical and psychological effects. Some signs or symptoms may appear immediately after the traumatic event, while others may appear days or weeks later.
It should be noted that some people with brain injury may not recognize the existence of the disease, referred to as anosognosia.
The patient may present lack of awareness of deficits after TBI and the underlying reasons may be one or a combination of the following:
1) denial of impairment post-injury: this is an attempt to make sense of the traumatic experience that caused the injury. The individual may be emotionally charged and blame others for the problems.
2) impaired cognition: intact reasoning and judgment are needed to make sense of the newly acquired impairment. With impaired cognition, the individual may be surprised and/or concerned when receiving feedback regarding his/her performance.
3) neural base: patient acknowledges difficulties, but may remain impassive and show emotional indifference (anosodiaphonia).
Individuals with TBI may exhibit a wide range of physical, sensory, cognitive and emotional impairments. However, it is also crucial to acknowledge the impact that the brain injury has on the patient's family as a whole.
PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES:
SENSORY EFFECTS:
COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS:
COMMUNICATION:
Communication skills may be affected by cognitive problems.
The speech and/or language of individuals with traumatic brain injury may be:
EMOTIONAL
FAMILY CONSEQUENCES
It should be noted that some people with brain injury may not recognize the existence of the disease, referred to as anosognosia.
The patient may present lack of awareness of deficits after TBI and the underlying reasons may be one or a combination of the following:
1) denial of impairment post-injury: this is an attempt to make sense of the traumatic experience that caused the injury. The individual may be emotionally charged and blame others for the problems.
2) impaired cognition: intact reasoning and judgment are needed to make sense of the newly acquired impairment. With impaired cognition, the individual may be surprised and/or concerned when receiving feedback regarding his/her performance.
3) neural base: patient acknowledges difficulties, but may remain impassive and show emotional indifference (anosodiaphonia).
Individuals with TBI may exhibit a wide range of physical, sensory, cognitive and emotional impairments. However, it is also crucial to acknowledge the impact that the brain injury has on the patient's family as a whole.
PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES:
- nausea
- vomiting
- dizziness
- headache
- blurred vision
- sleep disturbance
- fatigue
- lethargy
SENSORY EFFECTS:
- persistent ringing in the ears
- impaired hand-eye coordination
- difficulty recognizing objects
- blind spots or double vision
- a bitter taste, a bad smell or difficulty smelling
- skin tingling, pain or itching
- trouble with balance or dizziness
COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS:
- attention
- concentration
- perception
- memory
- processing speed
- speech and/or language difficulties
- executive functioning
- insight
- judgment
COMMUNICATION:
Communication skills may be affected by cognitive problems.
The speech and/or language of individuals with traumatic brain injury may be:
- verbose and tangential
- dysnomic/ anomic
- dysarthric
- decreased organization of discourse
- decreased verbal fluency
- decreased auditory processing related to: decreased short-term and working memory; decreased complex attention and decreased speed of processing
- trouble with turn-taking or topic selection
- problems with changes in tone, pitch or emphasis to express emotions, attitudes or subtle differences in meaning
- difficulty interpreting nonverbal signals and cues (e.g., conversation partner repeatedly checks the time as a cue to end conversation, but this may go unnoticed by individual with TBI)
- trouble starting or stopping conversations
EMOTIONAL
- irritability
- quickness to anger
- egocentricity
- childishness
- impulsivity
- lability
- stages to grieving: denial, anger, depression…
- apathy
- dependency
FAMILY CONSEQUENCES
- impacts family relationship including marital, parental, sibling as well as extended family relations
- impacts family functions: financial, daily care, recreation, affection, socialization, self-definition, education, vocation
- impacts family life cycle: couple, birth and early childhood, school age, adolescence, young adult, post-parental, aging/ senior