Cognitive and Social
Development
Differences in
Individuals with TBI
Alejandra Aguilar,
Jason Grossman,
Kent Hsieh,
& Joanne Wong
Introduction
Please give your attention to the tallest member of
our group 
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
Occur when an individual’s head hits an
object but that object does not break through
the skull.
Who is susceptible to a Traumatic Brain
Injury (TBI)?

-
Anyone, including
Babies
Children
Young adults
Parents
Students
Professionals
Athletes
Soldiers
What the studies show
 Individuals who have sustained a TBI have to
work harder than individuals from the same
backgrounds (socioeconomic and educational)
than those who have not.
 The studies showed how those who sustained
the injury scored lower on tests while
simultaneously requiring more time to do so.
Each year
 2% of the population are effected
(Ouellet, & Morin, 2006)
 Unlike broken bones or sprains a TBI remains
with the victim for the rest of their lives
Classification of TBI
 The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders labels TBI as an Axis III Disorder
 An Axis III disorder is a General Medical
Condition
Long term issues
 Social problem solving and community integration
(Rath, Hennessy, & Diller, 2003)
 Performance decrements
 Learning abilities
 Work performance
 Social interactions
 Personal
 Work
 Educational
Causes of Injuries
Cognitive Development
 Usually refers to how an individual thinks and
gains understanding based on his or her genetic
and learned factors.
 Information processing, memory, reasoning, and
intelligence are usually gathered to measure
one’s cognitive development
Memory
 Memory loss is one of the most common
cognitive side effects of traumatic brain injury
(TBI).
 Even in mild TBI, memory loss is still very
common.
 The more severe the victim's memory loss after
the TBI, the more significant the brain damage
will most likely be.
Memory (Continued)
 At the current time, there is no treatment for
memory loss following TBI.
 If the memory does not come back on its own, it
will be lost permanently.
 There is a great deal of research in the field of
TBI and memory loss, but, unfortunately, there
are no cures for memory loss following TBI.
(Newsome et al., 2008)
Personality
 Personality changes are a common effect of
traumatic brain injury, and are often cited by
family and friends as the most difficult effect to
deal with.
 In some cases personality changes are short
term and resolve as the patient recovers,
whereas in other cases the personality changes
are permanent.
Personality (Continued)









Depression
Anxiety
Apathy
Irritability
Anger
Confusion
Agitation
Insomnia
Mood swings…etc
Treatment for Personality Changes
 Most survivors of traumatic brain injury who
suffer from personality changes, emotional
problems, and problem behaviors will be treated
with a combination of psychotherapy and
medication.
(Rush, Malec, Brown, & Moessner et al.,2006)
Social Development
 Social is the interaction between organisms.
 Interpreting social cues
 Thumbs up
 High Five
 These are different cross-culturally
 Taking into consideration the needs of others and
maintaining interpersonal relationships
Interpreting Social Cues
 TBI patients sometimes lose the ability to recognize facial
expression (Knox & Douglas, 2008).
 Interaction is hampered through the limitations on the
individual (Long, McDonald, Tate, Togher, & Bornhofen, 2008) .
 TBI can result in social isolation through->
 Loss of self
 Decreased self-esteem
 Deceased self-efficacy
(Landau & Hissett, 2008)
Relationships




Loss of self
Decreased self-esteem
Deceased self-efficacy
Relationships are often broken because of the
three factors.
 Through this series of events, depression is
common.
Recovery
 Through a social support system, the impact of
TBI can be lessened. (Engberg & Teasdale,
1998 )
 Social development recovery rates for children
are higher than for adults demonstrating a level
of plasticity (Hanten, et al., 2008).
 However children with TBI still lack the social
skills of children without brain trauma.
Conclusion
• Studies on patients with TBI reveal differences in
cognitive and social development
Further Research
 Longitudinal
Changes
 Blame attribution
 Association with
other psychiatric
disorders (Hart et
al., 2007)
Further Research (Continued)
 Reasons for the
variety of
outcomes among
brain injury
patients (Drotar et
al., 2009)
TBI Patient’s Future
 Regardless of TBI’s effects on people, studies
show that there is still hope for a small amount of
functional impairment to be actually caused by
brain injury.
References
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doi:10.1037/a0014936
Engberg, A. & Teasdale, T.W. (1998). Traumatic brain injury in children in Denmark: A national 15-year study.
European Journal of Epidemiology, 14(1), 165-173.
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unintentional traumatic brain injury: Longitudinal changes and impact on subjective well-being.
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