I was diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury after a high speed MVA. As the name suggests, this sort of injury results in damage to the axons over a large area of the brain.

It often occurs in injuries that involve rapid acceleration and/or rotation.

In my case, I endured a spiral injury when I was cut off by another vehicle. The initial impact sent my head back and forth. The force sent the rear end of my car airborne. It crashed down, blowing out all the tires, and smashing my brain against the top of my skull, before coming to rest perpendicular to the road, sending my head side to side and slamming it into the driver's side window. So, back and forth, up and down, side to side. Basically, my brain did a 360 inside my skull, shaving off precious axons as it went.

Neuro-psych testing revealed that not a single lobe in my brain escaped damage.

In short, where concussion damage might be limited to a small area of the brain, diffuse axonal injury causes widespread damage.

Diffuse axonal patients often display a large number, and variety, of deficits.