How Do Brain Injuries and Personal Relationships Tie Together?

Your brain is the center of your life, so it makes sense that an injury to your brain will impact all aspects of your life, too. While most people focus on the mental, emotional and financial impacts of a head injury, it is important to remember the impact it can have on your personal relationships, too.

What is the link between brain injuries and personal relationships? How do you combat the potential negative effects that one might have on the other?

Negative Behavioral and Personality Impacts

Headway discusses the potential impact that a brain injury can have on the way you perceive your world. Of course, this includes the way you handle your relationships and the way your relationships progress.

For example, you will likely suffer from behavioral changes due to the injury. Many TBI sufferers will display increased agitation and anger, violent tendencies, the inability to cope with stress, and increased depression and anxiety. Many also lash out at others even if this was not part of their original personality, due to the new inability to cope.

Feelings of Alienation and Uncertainty

This can make a TBI victim feel like a stranger to loved ones, which often ends up estranging them and putting strain on the relationship. The loved ones feel like they are dealing with someone they do not recognize, while the TBI victim can sense the alienation but do not have the mental faculties necessary to deal with it.

It is important to address these issues as they arise because some of these changes will last for years or even be permanent. Addressing them upfront can potentially save your relationships.