The Disability Information and Resource Centre

Changes That May Result From A Brain Injury

Brain Injury results in a wide range of changes to a person’s behavior, their sensitivity to surroundings and their thinking capabilities.

• Some changes are permanent.
• Some changes are only temporary.

Which Changes Are Permanent?

Sometimes, a person who has had a brain injury can appear to overcome all of the effects of their injury.

For example, a person had over 40% of their brain removed after a serious accident. After intensive rehabilitation, it was hard to tell if they had an injury at all. Another person had a relatively mild brain injury and now has to live with chronic pain, a short attention span and many other difficulties.

When a person sustains a brain injury its impossible to predict how much they will recover and how long it will take. There is no formula to tell you which results are permanent and which are temporary. The incredible ability of the human brain to compensate for a loss of some functions continues to amaze medical professionals.

Neuropsychologists and neurologists test the functions of a person’s brain after a person sustains a brain injury. This allows the medical team to establish a rehabilitation program aimed at helping the person overcome their specific difficulties.

What Are The Changes?

There are too many possible changes to list them all here. Changes may (but not always) involve the person’s personality, thinking and learning and physical abilities.

Personality Changes

• The person may be quick to anger - a loud noise, or someone disagreeing with them may trigger an outburst of aggression. This is particularly common when the person is still in Post Traumatic Amnesia (PTA).

Many people who have had a brain injury also become more aggressive as the years pass by. This may be due to a range of factors such as frustration at living with the effects of their injury receiving inappropriate care, and boredom due to limited opportunities for recreation and personal development.

• The person won’t always think of others - for example, the person may become annoyed they can’t watch their favorite television program, even if someone else was watching their favorite program first. Or, the person may become agitated if they aren’t served immediately they walk into a shop or bank.

• The person is very talkative - they may also jump from one topic to another during a short conversation, or, find it very hard to stay focused on the point they were trying to make.

• The person may rush into things - they may rush into a job, make lots of errors and then rush onto another job without checking the first one.

• The person doesn’t believe they have changed - they may remember a lot about what they used to be able to do and think they can still do it. Even when tests confirm the person has lost the skills they might not believe its true.

• The person has less control over emotions - the person may laugh or cry at the slightest suggestion of joy or sadness.

• The person may make inappropriate sexual advances - They may be unable to control their sexual urges as a direct result of their injury. This may result in varying degrees of harassment or others or increased levels of sexual activity.

Physical Changes

• Loss of sight or hearing - the person may have complete or partial loss of their sight or hearing. This loss may be temporary or permanent.

• Reduced control over movements - the person may have slow movements or total loss of control of some muscles.

• Slow or slurred speech - the person may speak slower or be difficult to understand.

• Fatigue - the person may need to have a rest several times during the day as they get very tired very quickly.

• Paralysis - the person may have permanent paralysis in some parts of their body.

Thinking-Learning Changes

• Memory - loss of short-term memory may result in “forgetting”. For example the person may forget to attend meetings, forget why they went to the shop or forget what they have just been taught. Sometimes the person’s long term memory may be affected as well, so that they don’t remember past events.

• Problem solving and decision making - The person may have difficulty seeing how an action caused an effect. This may mean that the same mistakes are made over and over again, as the person can’t understand what is causing the problem.

• Concentration - the person may switch from one task to another, or may have difficulty staying focused on the one thing. They may also be easily distracted by sights, sounds, feelings or temperature.

• Getting started - the person may have difficulty starting something, or they may not feel like doing anything.

• Inflexible or sticky thinking - the person may need to stick to a rigid routine, or they may get stuck on one idea.

• Understanding things - the person may have trouble taking phone messages, understanding a good joke, following meetings, or reading.

• Saying what they mean - the person may have trouble finding the right words, using the right body language or getting to the point.

• Sequencing - the person may have trouble getting things in the right order. For example, remembering to wash the dishes before you dry them.

• Slow to respond - it may take the person longer to understand and respond to what is going on.

• Perception - the person may confuse similar sounding words and numbers, and have trouble finding new places.

* Source : Brain Injury Association of NSW