Cognitive Disorders after Traumatic Brain Injuries
The ability to think, act or know is known as cognition. This includes everything from talking, to listening, understanding to analyzing, remembering and storing information in the brain. Whether you are planning, thinking of what needs to be done or communicating the idea to someone, it all comes under the heading of cognition. Since it is directly related to the brain, cognitive disorders can take place when an individual attains a Traumatic Brain Injury, also known as TBI.
When anyone has faced some kind of trauma, there are some resulting effects on the cognition, which can include some hindrance in talking, language, attention span etc. Here are some of the problems or disorders that can occur when TBI takes place.
Concentration or Attention Span Issues
A victim of TBI may find it difficult to concentrate or pay attention to anything specific immediately after the injury. Depending on the severity of the injury, this condition may last from a few hours to weeks. This may also manifest physically, when the person is unable to sit or walk for long periods and tires out too quickly. The best way to avoid getting more confused or tiring out too soon is that the patient should only be engaged in one task at a time. In the immediate days after the injury, the patient should only try simple and easy to follow tasks so that they don’t feel overwhelmed.
Speech and Language Issues
Anyone who has had TBI can also come across speech and language issues like,
• slurring of the words
• difficulty communicating how they feel
• not being able to find the right words
• problems understanding tones or meanings of what others are saying
• having a hard time focusing on long conversations
• headaches when trying to communicate
Again, the severity of the injury would decide how long this issue lasts. The best way to handle the problem is to work with a speech therapist who would be able to advice on how to progress one day at a time.
Storing and Remembering Information
This is another difficulty that patients of traumatic brain injuries face. Not only do they find it tough to remember all the information from the past, they find it demanding to store new information in their brains. Memorization improves with time and patients should start with learning simple, routine tasks. They can also use memory aids, notebooks and daily task lists to help them remember things.