Hi all,
I'm not too sure if this is PCS but I've been unexplainably depressed for the last couple of months to the point that has driven me to do a lot of internet research in the last couple of weeks. I think the source of it for me was a recognition of the loss of self. After my TBI 17yrs ago I don't think knowledge of any of this was around and my rehab just focussed on the physical and cognitive (and not emotional). Like Nancy's son who took some time to realise he had a headache I feel like a it has taken me a long time to realise a lot of my emotional problems were actually there. I've read too of the importance of being allowed to grieve. I've read (and it makes sense to me) that if for whatever reason the grieving doesn't happen it just turns into depression (because the loss and trauma of the event is still real inside the TBIer). I think one of the trickiest parts is that it is incredibly hard for any other person to participate in the grieving process because they can't get inside the other persons head and know what TBI has meant for them (ie. there loss). (On the contrary if someone has lost a relative or any other function of their body we can imagine/empathise with what it is like and at least in part participate in their grieiving process. However if your brain is injured how can another know what it is like to not be you any more. Hence TBI is called the the invisible sickness.) Because immediately after a TBI you are so busy with all the cognitive stuff the grieving doesn't really happen then and it seems can a long time to come out (for me 17yrs!). However when it does as I said before it is important that grieving is permitted (and not scolded, or down-played or treated as self-centredness). What has become very apparent to me is that the breadth of the way TBI affects people is unfathomly big. But these are just the thoughts I have based on my experience of it.
Best wishes to all,
Nigel.