Traumatic brain injury: Main features and outcome

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury is a severe problem of public health, with a high incidence in the young adult population, mainly as the result of traffic accidents. The author reviews the literature concerning the principle characteristics of this injury, recovery mechanisms, and the most frequent sequelae observed in these situations, in adult subjects. The consequences even years after injury can be dramatic for the subjects who suffered injury, as well as for their close relatives, and involve different types of impairments – physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral. These impairments, depending on their severity, individual characteristics, and life conditions, can lead to handicaps of different nature preventing the professional and social integration of these subjects. 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v16i1.471