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Chapter 15: Traumatic Brain Injury and Military Families

DOI:

10.1891/9780826108777.0015

Authors

  • Smith-Osborne, Alexa

Abstract

The current common combat era casualties have been posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), head injuries, hearing loss or impairment, and polytrauma. Common causes of military traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are blasts, falls, vehicular accidents, and penetrating fragments or bullets. Mild TBIs (mTBIs) usually are not detectable by lab tests or scans, which typically show normal results. The most common assessment instrument used for TBI is the Glasgow Coma Scale, which scores eye opening responses, motor responses, and verbal responses. Findings of effectiveness of psychosocial rehabilitation models for civilians with TBI and their families suggest that developing models of supported education and employment for injured veterans may be similarly helpful. Stigma, military stoicism, mTBI-related executive function compromise, and PTSD-related avoidance symptoms are barriers to care for neurological disorders, but disclosure of care is still perceived as possibly leading to loss of career or current employment, both among active duty and veterans.