Psychological sequelae of head trauma.

Head trauma is a significant health care problem. Treatment of the head trauma patient requires assistance from many different disciplines in order to maximize recovery of function. The fact that one fourth or more of head trauma patients are impaired in recovery because of psychological factors suggests that appropriate treatment programs are not being implemented in the United States. Organic factors can produce many of the symptoms reported by head trauma patients. However, these factors are more likely to contribute indirectly to such symptoms, and their influence declines as recovery progresses. Recovery from head trauma follows identifiable stages. During the period of coma, the extent of the organic disturbance is sufficient to impair brain-stem functions. Once consciousness is regained, there is a period of gross memory dysfunction. Coma and posttraumatic amnesia represent the acute phase of recovery, during which patients are often hospitalized and receive intense medical care. Once gross functions return, intense medical care is no longer needed. However, the head trauma victim has not returned to a premorbid status at this point. This phase, between recovery from posttraumatic amnesia and stabilization or recovery of premorbid level of functioning, can best be considered the chronic phase of recovery. The chronic phase of recovery is characterized by defects in cortical functions, including impaired intellectual functions, memory weakness, difficulty in processing complex stimuli, slowed reaction time, and other deficits. While these deficits may not be profound, they do correlate with the severity of injury and the degree of eventual recovery. This observation lends further credence to the presence of underlying disturbance of neurologic functioning. During this chronic phase of recovery, head trauma patients may have made good physical recovery and may feel well enough to return to work. However, they frequently process less information and may experience difficulty with tasks that require attention and effort. Such patients tire rapidly and experience stress symptoms, such as headaches and irritability. These symptoms correspond to environmental demands, but they also reflect underlying neurogenic weaknesses. Emotional sequelae that often emerge during the chronic phase of recovery may be related to the patient's reduced ability to cope with environmental stress. Therefore it is not surprising that emotional sequelae appear to correspond more to environmental demands than to severity of injury per se.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)