caregiver tip - Traumatic Brain Injury Council

COMMON PROBLEMS FROM INJURY TO THE BRAIN’S RIGHT HEMISPHERE
• Difficulty locating where objects are in space through vision
• Lack of attention to the left side of the body (“left neglect”)
• Decreased awareness of one’s own challenges
• Altered creativity or music perception
• Loss of the “big picture”
• Visual memory problems such as not remembering a friend’s face
• Decreased control over the left side of the body
COMMON PROBLEMS FROM DIFFUSE INJURY (INJURY SCATTERED THROUGH-
OUT BOTH HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN)
• Reduced thinking speed
• Confusion
• Reduced attention and concentration
• Fatigue
• Impaired thinking (cognitive skills) in all areas
♥ CAREGIVER TIP
Remember, if a preferred area of the brain is damaged, the
person’s mode of thinking may change.
COMMON PROBLEMS FROM INJURY TO THE FRONTAL LOBE OF THE BRAIN
Organizing and doing (executive functions)
• Difficulty initiating activity—not “self-starting”
• Becoming disorganized
• Unable to monitor one’s own actions or progress
Thinking (cognitive functions)
• Poor ability to solve problems
• Lack of good judgment
• Lack of normal inhibitions about behavior—for example, not
knowing when to “keep your mouth shut”
M ODULE 2
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