Can a brain injury cause depression?

Published by Charlie Davidson on

Can a brain injury cause depression?

Physical changes in the brain due to injury. Depression may result from injury to the areas of the brain that control emotions. Changes in the levels of certain natural chemicals in the brain, called neurotransmitters, can cause depression.

Can a head injury cause long-term depression?

Some studies suggest that the risk for developing depression following a traumatic brain injury may be two to five times higher than in the rest of the population.

How does a brain injury affect you emotionally?

Feelings of sadness, frustration and loss are common after brain injury. These feelings often appear during the later stages of recovery, after the individual has become more aware of the long-term situation. If these feelings become overwhelming or interfere with recovery, the person may be suffering from depression.

Can a brain injury cause anger issues?

Anger is an important clinical problem after traumatic brain injury (TBI). As many as one-third of survivors of TBI experience symptoms, ranging from irritability to aggressive outbursts, that are identified as new or worse since the injury (1–3).

Can brain injuries change your personality?

A brain injury can make patients suddenly angry and aggressive, or even cause them to feel nothing at all. As a result, personality changes after a brain injury may change the way patients relate to the people they love the most.

Can a brain injury change your personality?

What is the best medication for brain injury?

SSRIs increase the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates mood. SSRIs are administered to treat emotional disturbances that can occur after a TBI….Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

  • Sertraline hydrochloride (Zoloft)
  • Citalopram hydrobromide (Celexa)
  • Paroxetine hydrochloride (Paxil)

Can a head injury cause a chemical imbalance?

Neurochemical problems that disrupt functioning TBI disturbs the delicate chemistry of the brain so that the neurons cannot function normally. This results in changes in thinking and behavior. It can take weeks and sometimes months for the brain to resolve the chemical imbalance that occurs with TBI.

Does a brain injury change your personality?

What part of the brain is damaged when angry?

A brain injury can damage areas of the brain involved in the control and regulation of emotions, particularly the frontal lobe and limbic system. Other effects of a brain injury can lead to irritability, agitation, lowered tolerance and impulsivity, which also increase the likelihood of angry outbursts.

Can brain injuries cause personality changes?

Depending on what part or parts of a person’s brain are injured, the individual may experience significant behavioral and emotional changes. The frontal lobe, for example, helps govern personality and impulsivity. If damaged, there might be no “braking mechanism” for self-control.

Why do people get depression after a brain injury?

There are a number of reasons why people get depressed after a brain injury and things contributing to that depression. The biological reason is that direct injury to the brain can affect areas of the brain that control emotions . Injuries to those areas can cause imbalances in the natural chemicals in a person’s brain, called neurotransmitters.

Could a brain injury be the cause of my Depression?

Many different factors contribute to depression after TBI Traumatic brain injury A head injury causing damage to the brain by external force or mechanism. , and these vary a great deal from person to person. Physical changes in the brain due to injury. Depression may result from injury to the areas of the brain that control emotions. Changes in the levels of certain natural chemicals in the brain, called neurotransmitters , can cause depression.

How long does depression last after brain injury?

Jan. 30, 2002 — It’s quite common for a person to become depressed in the months after a head injury. In fact, more than a quarter of patients experience some level of emotional distress. Now, new research shows that depression can linger for years, even decades.

Is Depression simply a nonspecific response to brain injury?

With these considerations in mind, in this article we examine the hypothesis that our inability to identify the causes of depressive disorders is because depression is a nonspecific epiphenomenon of brain injury or insult arising through multiple pathways.

Categories: Contributing