engleski

Psychological profile and social adaptation of patients with severe brain trauma

A group of 20 patients with severe brain injury (all male, mean age 30 +/- 6.3 years) and their immediate relatives were interviewed by a team of neurologists, psychologists and social workers. The brain lesions were caused mainly by explosive and shot wounds inflicted during military actions in Croatian Defense War (1991 to 1995), and in some cases injuries occurred in a traffic accident. To assess psychological profile and social status of patients after the brain injury we employed the European Brain Injury Society (EBIS) questionnaire. The most frequent cognitive deficit was dyscalculia ( in 18 patients), followed by attention-related problems (17), speech expression disorder (17), dyslexia (13), impaired writing (10), and verbal fluency (8). Short-term verbal memory (word recall) seemed to be spared in most of the patients: 12 patients recalled 5 or more words in the first trial, 16 patients recalled same words in the second trial, and 14 of them in the third trial. We found difficulties in spatial and temporal orientation in 9 and 12 patients respectively. Reasoning, verbal reception and construction ability was only slightly changed. Affective disorders were assessed according to the informant's observation of patient's past behavior. Most frequent emotional disorders were depression and anxiety (12 and 8 patients respectively). Six patients didn't emotionally adapt to a new situation, and in 8 cases closest relatives couldn't accept patients' new status. Five patients and their family members were not sufficiently motivated to attend a rehabilitation program. No patient had a full working ability after the brain injury. All of them had full pension and 18 got some kind of compensation from the insurance company. We have not observed signs of addiction in our patients. Half of them were involved in sport and recreation programs. Along with other functional deficits a moderate cognitive dysfunction and severe mood disorders change the abilities for social adaptation in patients with severe brain injury. Full rehabilitation program is important for final improvement of psychological profile and social status of the brain injured persons.

neuropsychology; social adaptation; brain trauma

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