As the name implies, traumatic brain injuries are forceful and severe blows to the head that traumatize the brain. A brain injury is much more complex than injuries to other areas of the body because the brain is your central control system, and damage to the area can inhibit normal function. Today, we take a look at five brain functions that are disrupted and impaired by a traumatic brain injury.

How TBIs Affect Your Brain

Here are five crucial brain functions that can be damaged by a traumatic brain injury:

1. Your Intellect – A traumatic brain injury can take a serious toll on your cognitive functions. Severe brain trauma can affect a whole host of process that contribute to your cognitive functions, like your memory, learning, knowledge retention, mental processing speed, judgment, comprehension, problem solving, attentiveness, decision making and focus.

2. Ability to Communicate – TBIs can also affect the way we communicate. Brain damage can impact our understanding of speech or writing and our ability to pronounce or write words. Brain trauma can also make it difficult to formulate coherent thoughts or express ourselves as easily as we could in our pre-injury state.

3. Actions – Behavioral changes are another way individuals can be affected by a TBI. As the first point mentioned, a TBI can impact our thought processes, which can affect how we react to situations. A TBI can lead to a lack of self-control or make a person more prone to risky or impulse actions. A person may not seem “like themselves” for a while after a head injury.

4. Emotions – Emotions are another brain function that can be inhibited by a TBI. Trauma can lead to chemical imbalances in the brain, which in turn can lead to depressive feelings, anxiety, irritability, anger, mood swings, self-esteem changes or even a lack of emotional responses.

5. Sensory Issues – Your five senses can be disrupted by a traumatic brain injury because your brain controls and regulates your ability to see, hear, taste, feel and speak. Head injuries can cause a ringing sensation in your ears, blind spots, double vision, loss of taste, dizziness, vertigo, touch-sensory issue and can disrupt your hand-eye coordination.