Impact of a Brain Injury

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The impact of a moderate to severe brain injury can include cognitive deficits including difficulties with:

Common Difficulties

  • Attention
  • Concentrating
  • Memory
  • Confusion
  • Impulsiveness
  • Language Processing
  • Executive functions, such as planning or initiating appropriate actions

Speech and Language

  • Not understanding the spoken word
  • Difficulty speaking and being understood
  • Slurred speech
  • Speaking very fast or very slow
  • Problems reading
  • Problems writing

Sensory

  • Difficulties with interpretation of touch, temperature, movement, limb position and fine discrimination

Perceptual

  • The integration or patterning of sensory impressions into psychologically meaningful data

Vision

  • Partial or total loss of vision
  • Weakness of eye muscles and double vision
  • Blurred vision
  • Problems judging distance
  • Involuntary eye movements
  • Intolerance of light

Some other issues that victims face may include:

Taste

  • Loss or diminished sense of taste

Seizures

  • The convulsions associated with epilepsy that can be several types and can involve disruption in consciousness, sensory perception or motor movements

Physical Changes

  • Physical paralysis/spasticity
  • Chronic pain
  • Control of bowel and bladder
  • Sleep disorders
  • Loss of stamina
  • Appetite changes
  • Regulation of body temperature
  • Menstrual difficulties

Social-Emotional

  • Dependent behaviors
  • Emotional ability
  • Lack of motivation
  • Irritability
  • Aggression
  • Depression
  • Disinhibition
  • Denial/lack of awareness

Hearing

  • Decrease or loss of hearing
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Increased sensitivity to sounds

Smell

  • Loss or diminished sense of smell
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