Traumatic Brain Injuries

Megan Robinson

October 27, 2016

Biol 4500

Professor Karpel

Traumatic Brain Injuries

The brain is a delicate organ in the human system.  It is also one of the most important organs in the human body.  If there is any alteration of the brain or damage due to an accident or any other circumstance the whole person can change how they behave and their personality. Sometimes the changes in a person are very subtle and then sometimes the person after the event is a completely different person.  This change in people after a traumatic brain injury has piqued the interest have many in the different work fields.  There is a famous case in which scientist, psychologist, and many other fields have studied to see what happened after Phineas Gage had an accident and injured his brain. 

            Phineas Gage was a railroad worker in 1848, he was working with the crew on cutting a railroad in Cavendish, Vermont.  When in September, he was packing an explosive powder into a hole with a tamping iron when the powder ignited and exploded.  The tamping iron he was using shot into the sky and penetrated Phineas Gage's left cheek and went into his brain and exited through the skull. This injury didn't kill Mr. Gage and he was able to go to the doctors to have it removed. He continued to work but not for the railroad and found work elsewhere.  He lived for 11 more years until he died in 1860 after a series of seizures.

 After his accident and the doctor who treated him made observations of his behavior and wrote that the balance between imagination, reason, intuition, perception, memory and will verse the necessities of the body were gone. And according to his friends they didn't recognize him as the same person before (Twomey, 2010).  With this knowledge, scientists can look at which pathways were damaged and what functions correlate with the pathways.  Also, psychologists are able to study what parts of the brain control what in the person's personality.  In a psychology class, I took we study about the different diseases that can a person's mental state. 

In a personal life event, I have been able to observe someone who went through a traumatic brain injury.  This person was riding a bicycle when a car hit him.  The accident was a hit and run and somehow he was able to find his way home.  The injury was not looked at right away and it was allowed for some time without medical treatment. He sustained a concussion and his brain was swollen. This injury altered his mental state and he was thinking without reason.  So similar to Phineas Gage the frontal lobe of his brain was damaged. 

            According to the person who received the injury said, every choice he made, was clear and thought it was normal. When the injury made him think that everyone around him seemed like they were out to get him.  He became paranoid and tried to run away.  If he would have been found at a later time his injuries could have sustained permanent brain damage.  But they were able to find him and get him to a hospital which then they were able to reduce the brain swelling and he made a full recovery.  Today he is perfectly normal, there may be slight damage to his brain but not to affect him in any way. 

 Looking at this accident in a scientific way, the damage he received cut off some of the blood supply and the immune response caused his brain to swell.  In my histology class, we were looking at how the immune response works and how in fixing the damage it caused some extra damages to the tissue. And then in my psychology class, we looked at how accident to his frontal lobe and how it is associated with reasoning, planning and parts of speech, and problem-solving.  In his accident, all of these parts were affected.  He wasn't able to reason normally which caused him to not act like his normal self.

In a reflection of this accident and how he was able to make a full recovery and not have any visible symptoms from the accident versus Phineas Gage who became a completely different person has to deal with the severity of the injury is an interesting how they recovered differently though both had a traumatic brain injury to the frontal lobe.  In an article about Traumatic Brain Injury and Personality Change, it states how they measure for the severity.  It says, "Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) severity is defined by the duration of loss of consciousness (LOC), altered mental status (e.g., confusion), and posttraumatic amnesia (PTA). It is important to note, however, that the severity of functional impairments after TBI often is not related to the severity of the injury (McCabe, 2011)."  With this guide of how to measure the injury, doctors can better estimate if the person will have a disability for future tense. 

In conclusion, through the study of the different field of work, as a society, we can further how the brain works and communicates to our body and how as a person we behave.  Through the different fields, they study the brain with a different perspective.  Combining the research done will give us the answer have how to prevent traumatic brain injury lasting effects. And we can help those you have sustained disabilities from traumatic brain injuries. And through the field of psychiatry and other routes, the professionals can help those that have suffered a personality changes from the injury. Teach them to learn how to cope with the new way of living so they can possibly return to work and live a more normal life.

Works Cited

McCabe, M. F. (2011, may). Traumatic Brain Injury and Personality Change. Retrieved from National Association of School Psychologists. Communique : https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-2352132631/traumatic-brain-injury-and-personality-change

Twomey, S. (2010, January). Phineas Gage: Neuroscience's Most Famous Patient. Retrieved from Smithsonian.com: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/?page=1