I Have a What? A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBI

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RRTC ON COMMUNITY INTEGRATION OF PERSONS WITH TBIIncrease exercise – Exercise can help your mood. It can alsoincrease your energy level and help you feel less tired.Change your ways of thinking – Our thoughts are stronglyrelated to our feelings. The things that we say to ourselvescan make us feel sad or down. Or they can make us feelbetter about ourselves. Learning to change our thinking canhelp to improve a depressed mood. Go to page 69 of this manual for someideas about how to change your thinking.Psychotherapy or counseling – Psychotherapy involves talking with atrained professional about things. You may talk with a therapist aboutsymptoms, problems, and understanding yourself better. It may help youunderstand what you are going through. Therapists can help you plan waysto become more active. They may also help you learn to change theway you think about things. Changing the way you see things canoften make you feel better.AnxietyMedications – You should talk to your doctor if yourdepression gets worse. You should talk to your doctor if depression causesproblems with your family or your work. There are many medications thatmay help you feel more like yourself.Anxiety is a feeling of being afraid or nervous. We become afraid ornervous when we are in a threatening or dangerous situation. Ifyou have ever been nervous or worried before an important test ora job interview, you have a good idea of what anxiety feels like.Feeling some anxiety in difficult situations is normal. Anxiety caneven help us to prepare for action. When anxiety helps us to stayalert and safe, it is good. But sometimes, anxiety can be intenseand not go away easily. This type of anxiety may cause problems with work, family, andPage 37
friendships.I Have a What?!:A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBIThere are several reasons why you might have anxiety after your injury. You may worryabout your symptoms. You may worry about problems you are having at work or school.Anxiety will be less of a problem if you understand that your symptoms are a commonpart of the recovery process.Signs of anxiety:Thoughts that you are in danger or that something is wrong. When you arefeeling anxious, you may think in ways that aren’t accurate. For example, you maybelieve that you are in more danger than you really are. You may feel like you can’thandle situations and need to run away from them. You may also feel that there isno one to help you when you need it.Tense musclesFeelings of restlessness. You feel like you cannot relax.Feelings that you cannot breathe or that you are short of breath.Lightheaded or dizzy feelingsRacing heartButterflies in your stomachTrouble sleepingIf you are experiencing symptoms like these since your injury, there are several things thatyou can do to help anxiety become less of a problem.What can I do?Change your ways of thinking – Like with depression, thoughts that wehave can make us worried. This may lead to anxiety. If you are feelinganxious, you may be thinking things that are making you feel that way. Forexample, you may think to yourself, “I’m never going to get better.” This willPage 38
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I Have a What? A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBI

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