A traumatic brain injury occurs after a severe jolt to the head. During a car accident, there are various ways your head may collide with the inside of your vehicle. Not only are there physical side effects that come with a traumatic brain injury, but there are also cognitive side effects.
According to MayoClinic, traumatic brain injuries can cause long-term complications.
What is cognition?
Cognition includes how your mind processes, stores and understands information. Those with a healthy or uninjured brain may have no difficulty with problem-solving, judgment or impulse control. Your cognitive skills include paying attention and concentrating on different tasks. In addition, cognition affects how you communicate with others.
What are the cognitive symptoms after a TBI?
After a TBI, you might find it challenging to follow a conversation or understand what someone tries to tell you. Likewise, it may become difficult to follow movies, TV and books. Traumatic brain injuries can impact a person’s ability to carry out simple, everyday tasks. Everything might take longer and you may have difficulty thinking of the right words during a conversation.
Patients often hear from friends and family that they changed after a TBI. You could have been a careful, mild-mannered person before the TBI but now you tend to act recklessly or have verbal outbursts. Your emotions may feel out of control with symptoms of depression, anxiety and irritability.
Working with physicians and physical therapists can help patients with cognition problems recover. You may have a traumatic brain injury if you suffer any cognition problems following a car accident.
