Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury

Introduction

Traumatic brain injury has been associated with significant long-term impairments in intellectual functioning, language and communicative skills, and executive and memory abilities (Chamberlain, 2006). Given the high potential for the trauma to affect the orbito-frontal and anterior temporal regions, moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries are most commonly related to attentional deficits, slowed cognitive processing/responding, impaired learning and retrieval, auditory-visual processing deficits, executive, and motor deficits (Anderson et al. 2005). In addition to examining neuropsychological outcomes after brain injury, researchers have highlighted long-term behavioural and social deficits in these patients after controlling for differences in cognitive functioning (Anderson, Jacobs & Harvey, 2005). The general pattern of results indicates that patients with traumatic brain injuries experience a myriad of social, behavioural and adaptive sequelae that cannot be accounted for by neuropsychological deficits alone.

Developmental Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury

The brain regulates everything that goes on in the body, including actions, reactions and feelings. All of the different parts of the brain work together to help us learn, move, communicate and behave (Levin et al. 2002). Traumatic brain injuries are unexpected and sudden insults that can have long-term and even life-long impact on the individual. Understanding how the brain works gives insight into how people learn or why they behave the way that they do. A working knowledge of the brain can also work as a guide when assessing and planning interventions for victims of head injuries (Levin et al. 2002).

Effects of Injury on the Brain

When an injury to the brain occurs, it can alter significantly how one thinks, learns and behaves. The sudden impact of the injury can cause the brain to move rapidly within the skull, hitting the rough, bony parts of the inner skull and resulting in tearing or shearing of the fragile connections between different parts of the brain (Chamberlain, 2006). The individual is at risk for damage from the initial injury, but also from the subsequent pressure that can build from excess fluid retention and swelling of the brain. Neuron cells can be destroyed, blood vessel damage can cause bleeding in the brain or interfere with adequate blood flow to other parts of the brain, and injuries can be spread out to areas other than the actual site of the original injury. The location of the frontal and temporal lobes make them most vulnerable to damage, but the brain is very complex and the different ...