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For People with Traumatic Brain Injury
“I’m not me anymore, but I’m still me.” So say — or think — many people who have sustained a traumatic brain injury.
In this section for people with TBI, you will find information about diagnosis and treatment, assistive technologies to help at home and at work, headache and sleeping problems, and guidance on how to make new friends and build lasting relationships among other topics.
As someone with a brain injury, you may be particularly interested in:
Brain Basics
Physical Symptoms of Brain Injury
The brain is incredibly complex — take an interactive journey to see how the brain works and what impact an injury can have.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
About Traumatic Brain Injury
This animation gives an overview of the frequency of TBI — from causes and symptoms to available diagnostic imaging techniques and basic information on brain anatomy.
Lost & Found: What Brain Injury Survivors Want You to Know
Living with Traumatic Brain Injury
Hear what people with TBI are really thinking and want their friends, family, and others to know.
Topics
About Traumatic Brain Injury
Any injury to the brain from an external force is a TBI. Penetrating head injuries occur when an object, like shrapnel, enters the brain and causes damage in a specific area. Closed head injuries occur when there's a blow to the head, which can happen during a fall, car accident, sporting event, or any number of different ways.
Traumatic Brain Injury Basics
Brain injury affects the roots of who we are — our ability to think, communicate, and connect with other people. Here's a good place to start learning.
What Exactly Does the "Mild" in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Mean?
We still have a lot to learn about the brain and what happens at a cellular level after a concussion. But for now, the good news is that most people diagnosed with a “mild” TBI recover quickly and fully.
Behavioral and Emotional Symptoms
The parts of the brain most frequently damaged in a TBI are the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes govern personality and impulsivity. If damaged, a person may have problems with self-control, anger, or aggression. Or the opposite might happen … someone’s personality may become muted or seemingly emotionless. This is called “flat affect.”
How to Deal with a New, Angrier Version of a Beloved Husband and Father?
Family counseling is crucial to help everyone deal with the emotional effects of a brain injury.
Why Is Depression the Number One Symptom After a Brain Injury?
Some 20-60% of people with a TBI experience depression soon after the injury or even years later. Learn why it's so prevalent.
Concussion / Mild TBI
A blow or jolt to the head can disrupt the normal function of the brain. This is called a brain injury, or concussion. Doctors may describe these injuries as “mild” because concussions are usually not life threatening. Even so, the effects of a concussion can be serious.
Animated Deceleration Injury from a Traumatic Brain Injury
Learn more about what happens to the brain in a car crash.
The Heightening Awareness About Brain Injuries
After 9.11 with the service members returning home with TBI and PTSD plus concussed athletes at all levels making the news, awareness of TBI started to bubble more rapidly.
Diagnosing and Treating TBI
The diagnosis of brain injury involves looking for signs of brain injury, either through scanning devices like CAT scans, MRIs, and X-rays, or through screening tools — usually in the form of neurocognitive tests. For mild traumatic brain injuries, treatment often involves resting the body and the brain. If symptoms of brain injury persist, further evaluation by a neurologist and/or a neuropsychologist may be helpful.
Basic Signs and Symptoms of TBI
Learn the basic signs and symptoms of a brain injury from loss of consciousness to changes in behavior.
What Happens When a Brain Bleeds?
Learn the difference between subdural and epidural hematomas.
Living with Traumatic Brain Injury
There’s no denying that life is different after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In addition to all the physical changes a brain injury may bring, a TBI can also mean the loss of a career or the disruption of an education. It can change your plans for the future, alter the way you meet and make friends, and affect the way you think about yourself.
9 Things NOT to Say to Someone with a Brain Injury
Brain injury is confusing to people who don’t have one. Learn what to say and, more importantly, what NOT to say, to someone with a TBI.
20 Life-Changing Android Apps for People with Brain Injury
Got an Android? Learn about these revolutionary apps for simplifying everyday life with brain injury.
We hope you'll visit BrainLine often. We'll be adding new information, resources, voices, and stories on a regular basis. Tell us what you think here.
Creativity in Caregiving
Loving wife and teacher Abby Maslin uses her creativity and teaching skills to help her husband recover from a severe TBI.
Caregiving for Someone Whose Nose Doesn't Always Know
Traumatic brain injury makes quirky seem quirkier, especially when a person is in the initial months of recovery. Rosemary learned that Hugh's loss of his sense of smell came with both dangers and quirkiness.
Starting or Nourishing Romantic Relationships After TBI
Every relationship has its ups and downs, but when a partner or spouse sustains a brain injury, other problems can arise, too.
Challenges with Acts of Daily Living After a Brain Injury
Problems with acts of daily living like dressing or washing can vary greatly and sometimes professional help is necessary.
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