What are the Chances of Developing Psychiatric Dysfunction After a Traumatic Brain Injury?
An injury to the brain can produce biological changes that can cause temporary and permanent personality changes. When the changes are permanent and are an alteration from premorbid functioning, we attribute these personality changes to the effects of the brain damage. Brain damage can change personality directly by impacting on the ability to control emotions and initiate emotional responses. For example, TBI patients, particularly those with injuries to the frontal lobe of the brain, will frequently exhibit impulsivity (the inability to self regulate and refrain from inappropriate verbal and motor behavior), emotional lability (extreme, uncontrollable shifts in mood that have a fast onset and end quickly), also known as flooding, disinhibition (an inability to control one’s emotions), or conversely, a syndrome known as adynamia (initiation problems which make the patient appear apathetic and depressed). Also, neural damage to regions of the brain which are involved in visuo-spatial p
