People often think about physical changes after a brain injury, or they may think about mental changes. For instance, they may consider having trouble remembering things after a brain injury or struggling with mobility if that injury affects the part of the brain responsible for these actions.
But it’s also important to note that a brain injury can change your personality and your emotions. It’s not just about physical alterations. As one well-respected doctor put it, “Any type of brain injury, regardless of severity, can cause personality changes.”
What will these changes look like?
As with any brain injury, the symptoms that each person experiences are going to be unique. But there are some examples of personality changes that tend to come up the most often, including the following:
- Crying and laughing when it’s not appropriate, such as laughing at a funeral
- Not being able to regulate emotions when necessary
- Becoming quickly frustrated or even angry over things that wouldn’t have caused that before
- Not being able to express your emotions at all
- Becoming very obsessive and unwilling to make changes
- Acting far more aggressively than you would have before, even toward family members
In some cases, these personality changes can be so severe that people end up getting divorced or losing their job. It’s frustrating, because they understand why it’s happening, but it feels like something that is completely out of their control. And the truth is that it’s all related to that injury. Those who have suffered these types of injuries, and with serious ramifications, may need to know what legal steps to take.