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Thomas Carroll Blauvelt

A TBI can have emotional and psychological effects

A serious brain injury suffered in a car crash or other accident can have major, long-term implications. Not only is your body affected, but your mind and emotions can be as well.

Each person varies in their physical response to a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Furthermore, each TBI is different in severity and the portion of the brain that is impacted. The therapy regimen that people with a TBI need to follow to recover to the fullest extent possible can also differ from individual to individual. Still, there are some after-effects that many TBI patients experience.

Fatigue

Nearly two-thirds of those who suffer a TBI say they have significant fatigue. It can have an effect on their ability to mentally focus and to recall things. It can also affect their mood and ability to communicate.

Mood swings

The area of the brain responsible for emotions may have been disrupted if someone’s moods are veering quickly from giddy to downcast, for example. Their mood shifts may not even be sparked by anything in particular.

Some TBI sufferers may exhibit behavior like angrily flinging objects, raising their voice or cursing. Their uncharacteristic bad temper may stem from being physically uncomfortable, irked by the upheaval in their life that they have little control over or feeling isolated because of their injury.

Anxiety

People can experience anxiety because of all the big changes that have occurred in their life due to their TBI. Facing familiar situations again like returning to their job can induce intense worry. Even coping with ordinary situations like crowds can seem like too much to handle now.

Depression

Sometimes people can feel hopeless and dispirited when they start coming to grips with the way their daily functioning has been tremendously altered, perhaps permanently, by their TBI.

If you’re suffering from any of these things, you can try several things – record your ups and downs in a diary or journal, have a solid support system and get some exercise if possible. If those don’t help, seeing a mental health professional can. If your TBI was the result of a motor vehicle accident caused by another driver, find out how to get the compensation you need to treat the life-changing injury you suffered.

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