Post concussion syndrome: the attraction of the psychological by the organic.
Post concussion symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury are a difficult clinical state to conceptualise. The constellation of symptoms include those with an organic signature (and presumed organic aetiology), and those with overt psychological features. A seemingly trivial head injury may result in enduring symptoms. The validity of post concussion syndrome (PCS) has been the focus of much medico-legal debate, as has its cause. Whether PCS is 'neurogenic' or 'psychogenic' in aetiology remains contestable. Babinski, in 1918, hypothesised that an organic factor initiated the symptoms of the disorder now known as PCS, and that this acted as a 'bait', or attractor, for pre-existing and post-injury psychological influences. This hypothesis, which has been neither proven nor disproven over the subsequent nearly one hundred years, deserves reconsideration for it is an appealing model of PCS.
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service, Burwood Hospital, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. ad.macleod@cdhb.govt.nz
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Sandy Macleod
D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007046:Hysteria / Q000209:etiology / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009462:Neurology / Q000266:history; D038223:Post-Concussion Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*