What study it?

Millions of people every year sustain a mechanical impact to the skull or body that does not necessarily result in suspension of consciousness. The source can range from a motor vehicle incident to an impact from striking the top of the skull upon a cabinet door. The consequences depend upon the nuances of the derivatives and vectors of forces that are generated through brain space. Within the weeks to months that follow these injuries the individual's personality changes. The person begins to exhibit the epileptic spectrum disorder including reduced concentration, poorer memory, depression, pain, and odd experiences. Sometimes the blood vessels within the brain are affected. The most common system is the Anterior Cerebral Artery. Because it supplies regions involved with communication between the two hemispheres and regions of the brain involved with experience of pain and depression, dysfunction in neurons associated with these areas generate behaviours that are misclassified as "psychological".

The person may begin to experience a sensed presence that is attributed to a recently deceased member of the family or to a cultural icon. Frequently the person feels as if he or she is "going crazy". Because these individuals often show normal CT scans and ordinary electroencephalographic records and they did not display suspension of consciousness, some medical personnel conclude there were no brain injuries. The problems are simply "psychological". Yet the person is never the same again and often cannot return to full productivity. In more than half of these cases personal relationships deteriorate and separations or divorces occur. The microstructure of the brain has been changed; the personality is altered forever.

What we have found

We have found that these profound changes in personality and capacity cannot be accurately detected by casual clinical observation. Only quantitative, norm-referenced testing allows the resolution to discern the changes. These individuals display accelerated "aging" for cognitive tasks. Many of these individuals respond best to anticonvulsants rather than to classic and SSRI-type antidepressants. The personal terror of the sensed presences can be minimized by explaining the source of the experiences (right hemispheric intrusions) and by neurocognitively restructuring their explanations.

Experimental simulations of mechanical impacts to the brain in rats have shown that neurons may shrink in size during the days to weeks following the single injury. The small areas within which this "shrinkage" occurs are very small and may be long distances from the point of impact. They would not be discerned by the limited resolution of even the most sophisticated MRIs and CTs. In some cases there are infiltrations of mononuclear cells, associated with the immune system, throughout regions whose functions are very similar to those reported as deficient by people diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue).