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What is acquired brain injury?

Physical

Tiredness, headaches, weakness, reduced balance/co-ordination, mobility difficulties, loss of control of functions, epilepsy, affected taste/smell/sight/hearing etc

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90% of people receiving a severe brain injury make a good physical recovery. This means their disability is effectively hidden – but it remains nonetheless real. This is why brain injury is often referred to as the ‘hidden’ disability – people can empathise over a broken leg, but are less likely to understand something that they can’t see.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) as defined by the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF)

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“A non-degenerative injury to the brain that has occurred since birth. It can be caused by external physical force or by metabolic derangement. The term ‘Acquired Brain Injury’ includes traumatic brain injury, such as open or closed head injury, and non-traumatic brain injuries such as those caused by strokes and other vascular accidents, hypoxia, toxic substances taken into the body through inhalation or ingestion, and any invasive surgery or treatments for tumours. Currently the term does not include brain injuries that are congenital or produced by birth trauma.” 

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Since an acquired brain injury (ABI) is a non-generative injury to the brain that has occurred since birth, the causes can vary quite considerably, even though the resulting effects can be very similar.

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Causes of Brain Injury

There are many possible causes. An injury can ben caused by a trauma to the head from something as simple as a domestic fall, a bang to the head, a road collision or even as a result of assault. It may have been caused by non-traumatic injuries such as a tumour, consequences of surgery, aneurysm, haemorrhage or a stroke.

Effects of a brain injury

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​​You could have any number of symptoms, from physical effects including issues with balance, headaches and dizziness to cognitive, memory, emotional and behavioural challenges.

The effects of an acquired brain injury can vary widely, depending on what caused your injury and which part of the brain has been affected.

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Quite often the person may look the same, but is behaving differently, may have physical disabilities and can even seemed to have a changed personality.

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In this section we hope to give you a little understanding of some of the effects that people may experience as a result of a brain injury. No two people are affected in quite the same way and each person may have their own unique set of problems.The experience of a brain injury can be very confusing in ways that the BI person may find difficult to describe and often may not be aware of some of the effects themselves.

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The effects of a brain injury can be many and varied and whether a person has a mild, moderate or severe brain injury, one or many of the following may be experienced:-

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Physical​

  • Tiredness/headaches

  • One-sided weakness

  • Reduced balance/co-ordination

  • Mobility difficulties

  • Epilepsy

  • Impaired or lost taste, smell, sight, hearing, vision, sense of touch/pain

  • Other illnesses/disability

  • Loss of control of functions

  • Ataxia -  muscle disorder that can affect movement, balance  or speech

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Cognitive​

  • Difficulty following a converstation, TV programmes etc

  • Memory problems

  • Difficulty solving a problem or making a decision

  • Lack of concentration/short attention span

  • Difficulty dealing with everyday tasks – dressing, cooking, shopping etc

  • Problems with following instructions

  • Difficulty understanding things

  • Poor reasoning

  • Loss of previously learned skills

  • Difficulty learning new things

  • Lack of awareness of problems

  • Aphasia - difficulty comprehending                                                                                                  or forumulating language

Social skills

  • Inappropriate social behaviour

  • Withdrawn/lacking confidence

  • Difficulty maintaining relationships

  • Sexual problems

  • Poor judgement

  • Communicaiton difficulties

  • Less tolerant – noise, crowds etc

  • Lack of goals

  • Loss of previously learned skills

  • Showing/recognising emotion

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Behaviour and emotional

  • Personality change

  • Mood swings

  • Depression

  • Aggression

  • Lack of motivation

  • Disinhibition

  • Less tolerant – noise, crowds etc

  • Lack of goals

  • Loss of previously learned skills

  • Showing/recognising emotions

The severity of their difficulties will also vary:

  • Some will be obvious

  • Some will be less so

  • Difficulty maintaining relationships

  • Many people go through stages where they may experience these difficulties and then adapt with time

  • Others may be left with long term problems

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