The phenomenology of personality change due to traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents.
The authors aimed to contribute a clinically rich description of personality change due to traumatic brain injury (PC) in children. The sample consisted of consecutively injured children. Ninety-four subjects ages 5 to 14 years were assessed at the time of hospitalization after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A standardized psychiatric interview, the Neuropsychiatric Rating Schedule, was used to elicit symptoms of PC. PC occurred in 59% of severe (22/37) and 5% of mild/moderate (3/57) TBI subjects. Among the 37 severe TBI subjects, the labile subtype of PC was the most common (49%), followed by the aggressive and disinhibited subtypes (38% each), apathy (14%), and paranoia (5%). Also frequent in severe TBI was perseveration (35%). A detailed case example, numerous clinical vignettes of PC symptoms, and a tabulation of their frequencies provide clinicians a broader frame of reference for eliciting symptoms of PC.
Max
J E
JE
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Robertson
B A
BA
Lansing
A E
AE
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies