An acquired brain injury (ABI) is any sudden damage to the brain received during a person’s lifetime, but not as a result of birth trauma. It may result from trauma to the head, through a road traffic accident, assault or other causes, such as a stroke, brain haemorrhage, infection, lack of oxygen or tumours in the brain. The most frequent type of acquired brain injury is one arising from physical trauma to the head which is also called “traumatic brain injury” (TBI).

Symptoms/consequences

All brain injuries can be extremely serious but symptoms are not uniform as brain injuries are varied and complex. The consequences are also extremely varied. People who have survived a traumatic brain injury commonly have symptoms such as;

Cognition	Slowed processing and co-ordination of thoughts.
Concentration	Impaired ability to concentrate.
Reasoning	Difficulty in logical thinking.
Attention	Easy and agitated distractibility.
Memory	Poor or jumbled recall.
Communicating	Difficulty with word finding and expression.
Fatigue	Easily tired (but often unaware of being so) then sharply dropping in mental performance.
Sleep	Long-term difficulty in getting restful sleep.

Headaches	Chronic and sometimes acutely painful.
Sensory	Confusing or painful effects from ‘ordinary’ but overwhelming sensory stimuli.
Anxiety	Becoming excessively anxious, whether for real or imagined causes.
Emotions	Emotional swings and/or un-reactive emotional numbness.
Social difficulties	Behaving or talking in an awkward, embarrassing or socially inappropriate way.
Depression	Stagnating unhappiness with low energy and low self-esteem.

An injured brain, therefore, can result in thinking changes, physical changes and indeed personality and behavioural changes.

Thinking changes

Memory	Communication	Perception
Decision making	Reading and writing skills	Thought flexibility
Planning	Thought processing speed	Safety awareness
Sequencing	Problem solving skills	New learning
Judgment	Organisation	Attention
Self-perception

Physical changes

Muscle movement	Taste	Balance
Muscle co-ordination	Smell	Speech
Sleep	Touch	Seizures
Hearing	Fatigue	Sexual functioning
Vision	Weakness

Personality and behavioural changes

Social skills	Self-monitoring remarks or actions	Frustration
Stress	Emotional control and mood swings	Reduced self-esteem
Denial	Appropriateness of behaviour	Irritability or agitation
Motivation	Self-centeredness	Coping skills
Depression	Anger management	Anxiety
Anxiety	Excessive laughing or crying