Traumatic Brain Injury - Essay Example

Traumatic Brain Injury by Traumatic brain injury, often referred to as TBI, has trauma as a common factor with all injuries, but thatis the only thing in common. Since brain work is as major factor of human`s consciousness, its trauma leads to serious consequences for all the body organs and processes. One moment the person is normal, and the other- he is completely changed (TBI). In general, TBD is a disorder that can be presented in various ways. The common factor is trauma, which can be caused by external force, direct impact, explosion wave and so on. Seriousness and the characteristics of the damage are stipulated by the strength and the direction of impact period of traumatizing forces. On the micro level injury causes cutting “of white-matter tracts, focal contusions, hematomas, and diffuse swelling” (Maas, Stocchetti & Bullock, 2008). Brain trauma differs substantially from lung puncture or arm fracture since the latter can heal almost completely. Recovery after traumatic brain injury is a complicated process precise mechanisms of which are not known. It may take long time to heal the brain, and the symptoms and consequences may appear in a long period after trauma (TBI). Much depends on the injury peculiarities. For example, in static crush and during blows, skull retains most part of energy leaving brain almost untouched. Blow injuries provoke serious hemorrhage and brain swelling that leads most frequently to fatal outcome (Maas, Stocchetti & Bullock, 2008). Traumatic brain injury is the most common reason of deaths in high-income and low-income countries. It considered one of the most serious socioeconomic and health problems of the planet. It is estimated by World Health Organization that in a decade this type of injury will be the leading mortality cause in the world due to traffic incidents especially in the third world countries where traffic laws do not serve as preventive measures (Maas, Stocchetti & Bullock, 2008). But more frequently traumatic brain injuries result in sensorimotor and cognitive impairment. In order to assess the seriousness of trauma after brain injury and the level of consciousness Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is used. There is division between mild, moderate, and severe traumas which are diagnosed with the help of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Glasgow Coma Scale assesses injuries severity with the help of 15 rate scale, where all the traumas above 8 are considered severe (Saatman et al., 2008). In order to investigate and evaluate the severity of all physical, neurologic, and psychiatric impairments of traumatic brain injury it is absolutely necessary to conduct a thorough examination. Traumatic brain injury most often provokes difficulties with attention, memory and troubles with executive functions regardless of the degree of severity. First two problems are especially serious since they can lead to problems in communication and other different complex cognitive processes (Arciniegas et al., 2002). Brain coordinates people`s thought processing, emotions, and behavior, and trauma can violate the course of any of these functions. TBI can disrupt totally brain power production which responds for brain arousal. It can cause coma in the most difficult cases or decrease the quantity of simultaneous “thought channels”. In the short period after trauma a patient may have difficulties with staying awake while later he can have problems after sleep or have strange reactions (Guideposts to Recognition). Patients who have moderate and severe traumas may experience abnormal pressure in the brain part which controls consciousness. This swelling in difficult cases results in coma, the state of being when physical functions of the body are preserved while there are no responses to external audial, visual, sensory stimulation (Cognitive Rehabilitation). Problems which patients with TBI experience vary from person to person and depend much on the peculiarities of trauma. Attention is the first process of cognition that usually gets under the influence of consequences of TBI regardless of the degree of severity. Attention serves as a basis for more developed abilities such as memory and logical thinking, patients with attention impairments will certainly have other problems. A patient may soon find it hard to concentrate on certain object or task or do more than one thing at a time. This often leads to: Complications with completing the tasks at school, work, college; Difficulty with conducting long informative talks or being in one position for a long period of time; Increased level of distractibility. Traumatic brain injury often results in decrease of reactions and subsequent problems with information comprehending and processing. People with this trauma are usually slower to react on the speech of others and have problems following the plot development or general proceeding of information of movies, books, and newspapers. On the domestic level traumatic brain injury can affect the speed of daily tasks such as cooking, driving or cleaning. In general it leads to: Consuming more time to understand people`s talk; Difficulties with processing information at once; Troubles with physical task performance (Cognitive Problems) Language and communication problem are naturally the consequences of reasoning and attention impairments. There is also possibility that the person with such problems will deny impairments and get frustrated when hearing criticism or remarks. A patient with TBI can have the following problems with verbal skills: Troubles with recalling of the right word; Difficulties with starting a talk or following the trace of the dialogue; Switching between the different topics easily; Performing more complex language tasks such as managing thoughts or giving a speech with problems; People with cognitive impairments can have problems with swallowing; Patients can experience stumbling over difficult words. People with TBI have difficulties with remembering new information with results in their learning skills. Difficulties with recalling recent events or information and less problematic remembering the things which took place long ago; Forgetting details leads to mixing memories and recalling “pieces” of different situations mixed together (Cognitive Problems). Brain traumas naturally affect personality and emotions formation. The abilities to evaluate, recognize, and understand the emotions of others can be affected by cognitive impairments. It is also can be problematic to a person to understand personal emotional state: Difficulties with expressing emotions with the help of body language. Troubles with being empathetic; comprehending other people`s emotions with difficulties (Guidepoints to Recognition). All the mentioned above changes can lead to serious changes in person`s behavior which can be sometimes impulsive and awkward. Patients with severe traumas can reduce self-control and behave carelessly and foolishly in social situations. Mood changes are often frequent during traumatic brain injury. One of the symptoms of brain injury is often a denial of any problems with cognitive processes. In the beginning of recovery people may be optimistic and self-aware. Later with more awareness people may enter a phase of serious depression and be moody and irritable. Patients may also have the following difficulties: Patients can even decline the fact that they have any troubles; People may be insensitive, unsympathetic and hurt others unintentionally; People with cognitive impairments may have difficulties building relationships; they may be unceremonious with people (Guideposts to Recognition). Trauma may also cause difficulties with time management as perception of time may change. And it will problematic for people to arrange meetings, remember tasks, and make plans. The earlier the treatment starts the better results it can bring. It is crucial to start therapy short after the accident/ First steps must include orientation supportive measures, speech stimulating techniques, and measurements increasing alertness. It is better to provide a patient with treatment in the specially designed rehabilitation centers. Brain traumatic injury recovery is often accompanied by medical treatment. Psychostimulants and dopaminergically active agents (eg, methylphenidate, dextroamphetamine, amantadine, levodopa/carbidopa, bromocriptine) are aimed to increase brain arousal and influence all the cognitive processes positively. Nevertheless, therapists must be very careful with dosing increasing it gradually (Cognitive Problems). References Arciniegas, D., Held, K., Wagner, P. (2002). Cognitive Impairment Following Traumatic Brain Injury.Current Treatment Options in Neurology, 4(1), 43-57. Cognitive Rehabilitation. Brain Injury Recourse Center. Retrieved from: http://www.headinjury.com/rehabcognitive.html Cognitive Problems after Traumatic Brain Injury. Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center. Retrieved from: http://www.msktc.org/tbi/factsheets/Cognitive-Problems-After-Traumatic-Brain-Injury Guideposts to Recognition: Cognition, Memory and Brain Injury. The Road to Rehabilitation, Brain Injury Association of America. Retrieved from: http://bianys.org/_literature_44379/Road_to_Rehabilitation Maas, A., Stocchetti, N., Bullock, R. ( 2008).Moderate and severe traumatic brain injury in adults. Lancet Neurology, 7 (8), 728–41. Saatman, K.,  Duhaime, A.,  Bullock, R., Maas, A., Valadka, A., & Matka, J. (2008). Classification of Traumatic Brain Injury for Targeted Therapies Read More