People get concussions all the time. They happen every day and in many different ways. We’ll discuss concussions and how they can completely change family dynamics sometimes in the following article.
How Do Concussions Occur?
Concussions might occur if you’re working in the construction industry, and something falls and hits you in the head. You may sustain a concussion if you’re playing sports, either professionally or in an amateur league. Maybe you take a fall and hit your head while playing hockey or soccer.
You might slip on the ice during the winter and hit your head. Perhaps you strike your head during a violent car wreck. Any time you hit your head hard enough, you may sustain a concussion.
How Can You Tell You Have a Concussion?
You can usually tell when you’re sustained a concussion. You might have a headache afterward, and you may feel dizzy. Perhaps you’ll vomit. You might slur your speech. You may feel sleepy or like you’re not yourself.
Delayed concussion symptoms sometimes appear as well, so you must watch out for those. You may seem fine after you strike your head, but then, you start noticing some of the symptoms we’ve described afterward.
If you suspect you have sustained a concussion, you should see a doctor immediately. Medical science now understands that concussions have many more health risks than what doctors initially thought.
Personality Changes
Professional football players often sustain concussions. If you watch virtually any professional game from start to finish, there’s a significant chance a player will receive a concussion during the game. It’s a violent sport, despite the many rule changes that the NFL and the player’s association keep implementing.
Several times, football players have experienced complete personality changes after severe concussions. Sometimes, these individuals have received multiple concussions. They sustain one, but once they recover, they start playing again. They may receive many concussions over a long career.
A football player’s family might mention that their personality seems different after one severe concussion or several minor ones. However, someone who doesn’t play sports may have this same issue. Even if you’ve never played football or anything else, a car wreck or a fall on the ice that causes a concussion can do the job.
How Does a Concussed Person’s Personality Change?
It’s difficult to predict how someone might change if they receive a concussion, or more than one. They might seem fine, but then, seemingly out of nowhere, they may get emotional. They might become angry and yell about something that seems small or innocuous. They may cry or become upset easily.
They might seem forgetful. Perhaps they’ll say things that seem completely out of character for them. When other family members see these changes, it will likely make them very unhappy. The person who they knew might not be there when they look at this individual who sustained the head injury.
Depression and Mood Swings
Someone who sustains a concussion might have sudden mood swings as well. They may seem happy and content one moment, but then they might fly into a rage the next. They might become irrationally upset about something the other family members can’t control.
They may also get into dark moods. These depressive episodes might last for hours, days, or longer. It’s like the other family members now have someone completely different living with them. They may tiptoe around this new person because they worry about making them angry or upset.
How Families Can Fragment After Concussions
In extreme situations, families can fall apart if someone sustains a serious concussion. One usually won’t do it, unless it’s very bad. However, individuals who have sustained multiple concussions have a much higher chance of seeing the personality changes that we’ve described.
In the worst cases, a family dynamic can change because the person who sustained the concussion was one of the breadwinners. They might lose their job if they can’t control their temper or they can’t shake off their depression long enough to continue holding their current position.
You might also have a family member the other members valued and loved very much, but now, they’re nothing like the original version. That change can weigh heavily on the family. Maybe the feelings of joy and love that everyone once felt don’t exist now.
What the Family Can Do About It
Someone who sustains a serious concussion must seek medical help. They should see a regular doctor, but if the family notices these personality changes, the afflicted individual might see a mental health professional instead.
A therapist or behaviorist might help this person. If they damaged their brain badly, though, they may achieve only limited success by working with a mental health professional. They might have self-control and anger problems for the rest of their lives in some instances.
You must also understand that those individuals who sustain concussions might not willingly seek help. Maybe they’ll see a therapist once and then won’t want to do it again. Just like any other mental or physical problem a person might have, they must willingly make a change, or else they’ll likely remain the same.
Hopefully, if you’re in a family with someone who has sustained a serious concussion and you notice some of these troubling symptoms, you can convince this individual that they should seek help. You might have something like an intervention where all the family members explain why they’re unhappy and why they want the injured person to get assistance from someone qualified.
If you can get through to them, they might get the help they need, and they may get back to being the person you one knew, or close to it. However, in the worst cases, these situations end badly. Some individuals who sustain serious concussions have permanently changed their brains. They may attempt suicide or to do something equally drastic.
It’s sad to think about, but it’s a reality for some individuals who sustain serious concussions.
