It is hard to imagine what it must be like for an individual following the personal crisis and catastrophe that ensues as a result of a serious traumatic brain injury. The individual is confronted with a huge range of alterations in his or her normal functioning, operating at the biological, psychological and social levels. From the neurological perspective a range of primary and secondary neurological events occurs, culminating in pain, seizures, compromise in movement, sensation, perception, orthopaedic and other injuries; neuropsychological compromise including disorientation, confusion, retrograde and anterograde memory deficits, decrease in
attention and concentration, slowed speed of information processing; executive deficits including concreteness in idea generation, disinhibition and impulsivity; psychological deficits including diminished self-esteem, loneliness, a renewed dependency on parents or spouse, infantilization by the wider community, diminution of sexual functioning and interest, depression, anxiety and social isolation; and economic deficits including loss of income, loss of one's employment as a defining features of one's social persona, medical costs, loss of treasured interests or hobbies and the unenviable role of the plaintiff in any medico-legal proceedings surrounding the claim. All of these changes are also occurring to an individual who has just had a near-death experience,
culminating not too surprisingly in the reflections Who I am? and Why I am here?. --- from the publisher |
