A traumatic brain injury can have numerous health impacts on a victim. Most times, stories that focus on these injuries will also focus on the physical effects that they have.
However, TBIs can also impact a victim’s personality and behavior to a surprising degree. Sometimes, the loved ones of the victim claim that they cannot even recognize them.
Lacking impulse control
Mayo Clinic discusses the impact of a TBI on a victim’s personality. TBIs will affect a victim in several ways, based on numerous factors. These factors can include the age and health of the victim, the area of the injury, how harmful the impact was, and more.
For example, with injuries that affect the frontal lobe, victims will often experience changes to their ability to self-regulate and control their impulsive or rash thoughts and actions. This is due to the frontal lobe’s role in impulse control.
Thus, many TBI victims will seemingly grow more rash or impulsive, especially if this is the area of their injury. This can result in a victim getting angry with greater ease, lashing out at others, or say or doing harmful things without thinking it through.
Struggles with emotional coping
On top of that, many TBI victims cannot properly handle their emotions anymore. This leads to emotional breakdowns over things once considered small, everyday nuisances. This makes it quite hard for victims to do normal things like hold down a job, when they can barely contain their outbursts.
Such impacts can make a victim’s personality almost unrecognizable. The loved ones of victims often report this. It is why having the means and financial ability to seek rehabilitation and medical treatment is so crucial.