title: Head injury and mental handicap.
abstract: A clinical and pathological study of head injury and the implications in mental handicap are outlined. Non-accidental injury as a form of child abuse is suspected as contributing considerably to the cause of mental handicap in populations resident in long-stay hospital, but this is unlikely to be the best environment for such patients. A number of mentally handicapped epileptic patients who injure their heads during fits and patients who repeatedly bang their heads as a feature of self-injurious behaviour are exposed to progressive neurological deficits associated with lesions in the brain which could further impair the efficiency of brain function.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000150:complications