Hi Ben,

I appreciate these experiences are intensely distressing to you, but I think you might have a extremely heightened sensitivity to and awareness of hitting your head. This is natural and I think this is a common anxiety after a TBI. When you know the difficulties of hitting your head, you want to avoid worsening it or it happening again.

The reassurance you are seeking, however - that the feared consequences won’t occur is instinctive - but can just strengthen a belief that you should never ever hit your head as otherwise all you care about will be lost. This belief is faulty.

The consequences are likely exaggerated as one bump to the head will not change the trajectory of your life, and they happen to people every so often.

What will change your life is being preoccupied with hitting your head. It will just mean staying anxious about it, and focused on damage that you have already experienced. This will change the trajectory of your life, taking up your time and sapping your confidence.

It might be helpful to think about whether the main problem is that you have hit your head or that you worry about hitting your head, and remember that physical problems can be treated.

Recommend you consider familiarising yourself with health anxiety and perhaps seeking professional treatment to understand and challenge unhelpful thought patterns you might have. It might save you a lot of time and allow your to refocus from an obsession to how you want to spend your life.