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 Less
is Unknown about Head Injury
By Gail-Elaine
Tinker, M.S.
The film Unknown is the latest mystery thriller to exploit
psychological and physical trauma as a plot foible. This time
Post Traumatic Amnesia following Coma from a car accident
is used by Hollywood as a plausible cause for amnesia. Yes,
this is a real condition, where the patient may experience
temporary memory lapses which diminish over time…but not quite
as easily as in the movies.
In Unknown, Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) awakens after
a car accident to discover that his wife (January Jones) does
not recognize him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed
his identity. He is ignored by authorities and hunted by mysterious
assassins, therefore, he is alone, tired, and on the run.
Aided by an unlikely ally, taxi driver (Diane Kruger), Harris's
attempt to take back his life plunges him into a mystery which
will force him to question his sanity, his identity, and how
far he is willing to go to uncover the truth. The film is
directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, filmed in Berlin, Germany,
and based on the novel Out of My Head by Didier van Cauwelaert.
So how realistic is this psychological condition? In Post
Traumatic Amnesia [PTA] there is loss of memory for events
immediately following a trauma and sometimes for events during
or following the trauma. In the case of brain injury due to
trauma like car accident, there is more likely a diffuse injury
which involves many parts of the brain and may require many
months, perhaps years of brain assessment and rehabilitation.
After coma, and retrieval of memory loss there is often a
need to re-establish life function. Often in head injury there
are problems related to movement, memory, attention, slowness
of thinking, difficulty with complex thinking, difficulties
with speech and language, behavior problems and personality
changes.
Think of 1991 'Regarding Henry' starring Harrison Ford and
Annette Benning for a very realistic portrayal of PTA and
its complications.
What is horrifyingly realistic is the assumptive disregard
we give to head injury. The idea that one can simply resume
life without attending to head injury can and does damage
lives throughout our world. Head injury, particularly concussions
have finally become a topic of public concern, much scientific
study, and of Congressional investigation.
 Contrary
to popular belief, a concussion is not a bruise to the brain
caused by hitting a hard surface. The injury generally occurs
when the head either accelerates rapidly and then is stopped
or is spun rapidly inside the skull. The results often include
confusion, blurred vision, memory loss, nausea and, sometimes,
unconsciousness. Often there is no physical swelling or bleeding
to be seen on radiological scans. The January 31, 2011 Time
Magazine article "Headbanger Nation" focuses on
the impact of concussion on children's brains.
It also discusses the role of sports and helmets in parent
decisions about their child's head injury. Neurologists say
once a person suffers a concussion, he is as much as four
times more likely to sustain a second one. Moreover, after
several concussions, it takes less of a blow to cause the
injury and requires more time to recover. (Image:
Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
These facts are not limited to children. A September 2010
New York Times article reports, that 1,090 former N.F.L. players
were surveyed and found that 60 percent had suffered at least
one concussion in their careers and 26 percent had had three
or more. Those who had concussions reported more problems
with memory, concentration, speech impediments, headaches
and other neurological problems than those who had not, the
survey found.
Also, a 2007 study conducted by the University of North
Carolina's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes found
that of the 595 retired N.F.L. players who recalled sustaining
three or more concussions on the football field, 20.2 percent
said they had been found to have depression. This is three
times the rate of players who haven't had concussions. But
in September 2009, a study commissioned by the N.F.L. reported
that Alzheimer's disease or similar memory-related diseases
appear to have been diagnosed in the league's former players
vastly more often than in the national population - including
a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through
49. These survey results gained the attention of the N.F.L.
and the U.S. Congress, but this is no surprise to the followers
of boxing or combat sports.
It isn't just boys and it isn't just contact sports, it is
about treating concussion and teaching coaches, parents, and
children that bumps and jars to the head are not to be 'shaken
off.' It is about public policy, education, and legislation.
VA, NJ, and OR have passed 'return to play' laws requiring
kids who have sustained even a suspected concussion in any
sport to be pulled until certified by a doctor, beginning
a national trend of "When in doubt, sit them out."
This is progress.
There will be considerable progress when we have acknowledged
toll of traumatic brain injury beyond our athletes and children,
and for our soldiers, the victims of war, and for the infants
who are helpless. If one person can form a full awareness
of the fragility of the miraculous human brain and visualize
the continuity -- exactly how shaking a howling infant, watching
a toddler hit her head while falling from a trike, seeing
a middle-schooler get his 'bell rung' in football scrimmage,
a highschooler hits his head while snowboarding, a young boxer
ko'd, a rape victim also hit on the head unconscious, the
character in a film awakens from a car accident, the roadside
bomb sends service men and civilians flying, their ears bleed
from the percussion, the prison inmate cannot explain his
constant rage - does he know he was shaken as an infant? Head
injury is a pervasive, devastating matter and anyone who has
experienced even the fringes of it wishes it was 'unknown.'
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| Gail-Elaine Tinker, M.S.
is a psychotherapist in private practice on the Lehigh Valley
PA. She was born in Philadelphia in May 1960, eldest of three
children. She was greatly interested in writing, language, theater
and music throughout her youth which opened opportunity such
as performance, travel, and academics. Gail-Elaine had planned
a career in teaching English but upon seeing the state of secondary
education in the 80s, she re-tooled her skills to become an
addictions counselor.
She was married and has a gifted son with
AS. She had a career in Art and entrepreneurial publishing
while raising him. Upon her divorce she furthered her credentials
with a Masters in Clinical Psychology and Master Levels in
Reiki training. Her goal is to change the stigma of mental
illness and facilitate positive solutions for her clients.
Gail-Elaine continues her work in trauma,
chronic pain, grief, and addictions in her general practice
of psychotherapy with art and somatic psychology. She serves
as Therapist, Consultant, Life Coach, Reiki Teacher, Advocate,
Community Speaker, Blogger [www.tinkerpsychotherapy.com],
and also as Features Contributor for PCM.
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