She may develop familial connections with her medical team as she tries to understand her environment. Or, she may not recognize family members or friends. A young adult, for example, may forget she finished college ten months before her injury. Your survivor may temporarily or permanently lose some memories from before her injury. She doesn’t need any additional frustration. Don’t ask her questions until you are certain she will be able to respond easily. She may ask, “Where have you been all day?” when you have left her bedside for just a moment.Īnswer her questions with simple words and short sentences. If she’s able to speak, she asks the same questions repeatedly because she can’t remember the answers. She goes robotically from place to place and from task to task as directed by her therapists. She doesn’t remember her daily activities. While in post-traumatic amnesia, the patient is somewhat responsive, but baffled by her surroundings. As the weeks of post-traumatic amnesia pass, the odds of a good recovery diminish. The duration of PTA is one of the better - but still not very reliable - predictors of long-term outcome (see page 101). Jessica’s coma lasted two to three weeks her PTA lasted more than ten weeks. In general, post-traumatic amnesia lasts three to four times longer than the preceding coma. It can be weeks or months before your survivor is able to routinely store new memories. Memory is the slowest part of the conscious mind to recover from an injury. She may be unable to recall very basic information, such as her name, your name, the season of the year, or the name of the current president. In this condition, the survivor may not understand who she is, where she is, and what is happening to her. More recently, the definition has been broadened to include a state of disorientation to time, place, and person. For years, PTA was defined as the period of time after an injury when the brain is unable to form continuous day-to-day memories. It is called post-traumatic amnesia (PTA). This is a normal part of the healing process. She may behave bizarrely or in a manner completely alien to her personality. She may be disinhibited, demonstrating a complete disregard for social conventions. She may be disoriented, agitated, angry, impulsive, or extremely emotional. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2009.When your survivor emerges from her coma, she likely will have little or no short-term memory. These findings indicate that PTSD may be more likely following MTBI, however, longer post-traumatic amnesia appears to be protective against selected re-experiencing symptoms.Ĭopyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2009. Longer post-traumatic amnesia was associated with less severe intrusive memories at the acute assessment. At the follow-up assessment, 90 (9.4%) patients met criteria for PTSD (MTBI: 50, 11.8% No-TBI: 40, 7.5%) MTBI patients were more likely to develop PTSD than no-TBI patients, after controlling for injury severity (adjusted odds ratio: 1.86 95% confidence interval, 1.78–2.94). In this study, 1167 survivors of traumatic injury (MTBI: 459, No TBI: 708) were assessed for PTSD symptoms and post-traumatic amnesia during hospitalization, and were subsequently assessed for PTSD 3 months later (N = 920). The prevalence and nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is controversial because of the apparent paradox of suffering PTSD with impaired memory for the traumatic event. Bryant, Mark Creamer, Meaghan O’Donnell, Derrick Silove, C. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2009 15(6):862-867 Post-traumatic amnesia and the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder after mild traumatic brain injury
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