An article in the most recent Monitor on Psychology (published by the American Psychological Association) [here’s a link to the article that is accessible for free online: Link) reminded me of something one of my professors in graduate school told our class a couple years ago. He is a clinical neuropsychologist who occasionally does some consulting for the military. After he returned from a consultation with the military he told us that between the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war there had been 18,000 central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) injuries of soldiers and contract employees serving in those two countries. The majority of the injuries were minor and many were not combat related but there are still thousands of people with moderate to severe CNS injuries that were acquired in war zones. Quoting from the Monitor article:
“Psychologists, particularly neuropsychologists, are stepping in to assess the damage, help patients learn new strategies to compensate while their brains recover, and raise public awareness of the increasing number of servicemen and women with TBIs. In fact, 1,977 service members were treated for them at Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) sites from January 2003 to February 2007.”
One reason for high rates of traumatic brain injury in the Iraq (and Afghanistan) war(s) is the improved (compared to previous wars) body armor and other life-saving devices. The downside to fewer fatalities is that there are higher rates of people with severe injuries who survive. The mild TBI rates are shown to be: “between 10 and 20 percent [in some surveys] of soldiers returning from deployments” (Source). It’s great to have fewer fatalities but TBIs can have profound effects on people. Clinical neuropsychologists can help people with TBIs learn how to best cope with their injuries as well as understand how their lives might be different and what they can do to compensate for any difficulties. Most people with mild to moderate TBIs seem to have complete or nearly complete recoveries; however, those with moderate to severe TBIs may have deficits, many very severe, that last the rest of their lives.
There can be myriad short-term problems associated with TBIs (e.g., mental slowing, memory problems, personality changes, concentration and attentional difficulties, etc.) but there are also long-term ones. Research has shown that a person with a history of multiple TBIs is more likely to get Alzheimer’s Disease in old age (well, the research actually shows that there is an over-representation of people with multiple TBIs in the Alzheimer’s population). There is a great need for clinical neuropsychologists currently and in the future to work with and help all of our war veterans who have acquired brain injuries.