Seminar Date: December 1, 2004
Presented By: Rolf Gainer Ph.D.
“Psychiatric Issues in Traumatic Brain Injury” explains the scope of problems faced by traumatic brain injury patients (TBI), and discusses various strategies for diagnosing neurologic impairment.
The presentation contains helpful information that explores the correlation between TBI and mental health problems and examines the various treatment options available for individuals who have received a dual diagnosis.
More than two million brain injuries occur each year and approximately 400,000 individuals experience a moderate or severe injury with the potential for a lifetime of disability. Individuals at all levels of injury severity are at risk for developing behavioral health problems. The effects of a disability related to a brain injury may increase the risk of the development of a psychiatric problem in years following the injury. These behavioral deficits may be aspects of an underlying psychiatric disease or of a specific neurobehavioral syndrome. The clinician who is confronted with a dual diagnosis patient is faced with a dilemma of establishing an appropriate diagnosis and course of treatment. In establishing a differential diagnosis it is important for the clinician to: identify the aspects of the problems which resemble a psychiatric illness; consider the possibility of co-morbidity and further consider the effects of a brain injury on a pre-existing psychiatric problem. Effective treatment and rehabilitation require that the neurological and psychiatric problems be identified and that specific routes for concurrent remediation be implemented.
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