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What is brain injury?
Acquired brain injury is damage to the living brain tissue that has occurred since birth and can affect anybody at any time. It will often have a considerable effect not only on the person concerned but also on his or her relatives, carers and friends.
The term acquired brain injury includes:
- Traumatic injury such as open or closed head injuries resulting from road traffic accidents, sports / recreational injuries and physical assaults
- Non-traumatic internal brain damage such as blood vessels bursting e.g. stroke, haemorrhage or from a tumour
- Viral infections such as encephalitis
Our brain is a very complex organ controlling our body and all the elements of who we are from our thoughts and memory, to our behaviour and personality.
Injury to the brain, however it is caused, affects people in different ways with each person having unique physical, emotional, intellectual or behavioural problems.
These problems may not always be obvious and for this reason it is often referred to as a ‘hidden disability’.
These difficulties – which the person with a brain injury may not be aware of themselves - can severely limit any previous life-style and may go unrecognised by statutory authorities, non expert professionals and other people including family members and friends.
A variety of social, cognitive, behavioural and emotional problems are frequently reported.
For example:
- Memory loss
- Inability to plan, organise and problem solve
- Not being able to cope with noisy surroundings
- Behaving inappropriately in social situations
- Lack of motivation
- Personality changes
- Fatigue
- Mood swings
- Depression and low self-esteem
- Impaired language and communication skills
- Physical and sensory impairment
- Epilepsy
If you need further information about brain injury or any of the services Headway Black Country provides please contact us.
We have many of the booklets supplied by Headway - The Brain Injury Association, available free of charge for anyone with a brain injury and their family and carers.
There are many different titles explaining the difficulties that may occur during the early period after a brain injury and through to rehabilitation and redeveloping skills after brain injury.
Please contact us for more details.
Headway Black Country
198 Wolverhampton Street
Dudley
West Midlands
DY1 1DZ
Tel: 01384 869961
Fax: 01384 869962
Email: headwayblackcountry@mailauth.co.uk
Web site: www.headwayblackcountry.com
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Headway Black Country: Registered charity No: 1089171
A Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England & Wales: No: 4001321
Affiliated to Headway – the brain injury association, a registered charity
Patrons: Ian Pearson MP - Ian Austin MP |
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