Well I just got back from my intake appt. I guess I have anxiety and clinical depression and fear of public places.... I'm not sure why I have it now and didn't have it before the accident. They think the depression is due to my limitations physically from the injury. So they are going to do some cognitive therapy. I asked them why I have it now and didn't before and they said when you get a head injury all the stuff can bubble up from underneath the surface... I'm not so sure on that one but we'll see... Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I think it's normal to be depressed when your home recovering for five months plus..... So I'm at a loss. Any outside thoughts on this?

My head is pounding from being there so long..grrrr..

I can understand the fear of public places. The overwhelming visual and auditory stimulation makes the public places problematic up to the point of being terrifying.

I hope they don't try to do immersion therapy to help you overcome this.

Many with anxiety will respond to therapy because their anxiety is thought oriented. PCS anxiety can be both thought oriented and purely physiological. It will take a different approach to deal with the physiological caused anxiety.

Have you been trying to go out with ear plugs in your ears? This can help with the auditory issues. Also, wear sun glasses and even a wide brimmed hat to help bright lights and other visual stimulation.

I can understand your head ache. The waiting room, front office chatter and such can be draining on the brain.

Try to take a nap if you can.

My best to you.

I had very little depression before my injury and zero anxiety. Post-injury, I have full blown GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) with massive anxiety and panic attacks and moderate depression. So I think it's normal to have these problems after a brain injury.

Thanks for your input!! Sometimes I question myself with all these different dx getting thrown my way. They kept asking me, "why cant you work?" I'm like hello, Head Injury.

They did say that they didn't think that I was being managed properly because of the amount of pain/headaches I get. I tried to explain I didn't want to be on painkillers everyday. I dont think that is good for my recovery.

They're going to speak with my MD's to try and come up with a plan. Gulp.....

I do get down but being in pain for so long is draining as I'm sure you all know.

I'm not sure if I should call my MD and ask him to prescribe something else...I'll wait and see I guess..

The difficult part sometimes isn't just the depression, but also the motivation to do things. I was depressed about a month ago for a few weeks and came out of it by watching funny television. My therapist suggested "Party Down" if you have Netflix. It will get you howling with laughter.

I've opted not to go to the pain medication unless it's really, really bad. There are things you can actually do to get your spirits up. Even try Tai Chi. I've done a couple of sessions of that through a DVD and it's worked wonders on my mood.

I must say, staying calm is also the hardest thing to do. There's more effort required and you have to be extremely self-aware to have to cope with all the different environmental stresses. Ease yourself in, living with your condition and making those allowances. Look for ways to gauge yourself on occasion then try moving forward with each symptom.

My theory is that we ALL have primitive emotions such as anxiety and fear, but normally don't "feel" these things due to balancing factors in the cortex regions of the brain.

Primitive emotions are stored in the more primitive areas of the brain located near the center of the skull, and thus more protected from physical trauma. These raw emotions are not undesirable per se, as they conferred adaptive value to a developing species (translation: fear and anger kept us alive long enough to propagate).

In TBI, more advanced areas of the brain (i.e. closer to the surface) are damaged, wiping out more advanced cognitive processes that normally balance the primitive drives. Courage, for example, is a higher form of cognition, and balances the fear drive.

You DID have anxiety and fear of public communication before your injury, as we all do. You simple kept these feelings under such efficient control that you didn't even realize you had them. That's what they meant by "bubbling up". These feelings are literally accreting from deeper parts of the brain, with nothing to stop them.

Your brain injury robbed you of your power to control primitive emotions, and you must now find other ways to compensate. Some of the ways suggested are good- Tai chi, laughter. I have found very good benefits from martial arts type stuff, and meditation (and have some theories on that as well).