Here’s a decent video about brain injury that does a good job of showing how brain injury affects people.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to completely reverse the effects of acquired brain injury. Therapy and rehabilitation can help but if the injuries are severe, completely normal functioning is unlikely ever to return. Prevention is the best medicine in this case; it is unfortunate that prevention is not always possible.The parts of the brain that are most often affected with brain injury are those that have to do with memory.
Another common outcome of brain injury is cognitive slowing – people just don’t seem to think or move or act as quickly after brain injury as they did before. This slowing is due in part to the diffuse axonal injury that occurs (the connections between brain cells {neurons} are broken or twisted as the brain compresses and stretches) with traumatic brain injuries. Even non traumatic brain injuries (e.g., carbon monoxide poisoning) can result in overall cognitive slowing (this slowing often greatly improves over time with mild to moderate brain injuries).It is also fairly common to see personality changes in someone with a recent brain injury – this is mainly due to damage to the frontal lobes. These changes in personality can be the source of great frustration and concern for family, friends, and everyone around the injured person. Dealing with a severe brain injury requires a lot of loving, patience, and care.