Acquired Brain Injuries
How to deal with someone who has an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)
When someone suffers a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), the entire family is affected. Studies show that Caregivers of people who have suffered a brain injury may experience feelings of burden, distress, anxiety, anger and depression. If you are caring for a partner, spouse, child, relative or close friend with TBI, it is important to recognize how stressful this situation can be and to seek support services.
Below you will find some top line solutions that you may use as a reference when your loved one is experiencing difficult behavior problems from their ABI.
Behaviour = CONFUSED
What you see
- Asking questions over and over again
- Unable to remember
- Unable to pay attention
What you can do
- Patiently repeat answers
- Use memory “tools”
- Give one step instructions
Behaviour = Restless
What you see
- Pacing
- Wandering away
- Unable to sit still
What you can do
- Do not leave the person alone
- Try to find things for the person to do
Behaviour = Irritable
What you see
- Gets angry quickly
- Small things become overly important and cause worry e.g. tidiness, negative financial focus, finding blame for their accident
What you can do
- Provide a calm, relaxed surrounding
- Give tasks that are linked with the worry e.g. Let the person tidy up
Behaviour = Uninterested
What you see
- Sits in one place for long periods of time
- Does not want to join activities
- Only interested in self
- Not interested in eating
What you can do
- Find activities that used to be of interest e.g. magazines, watching T.V.
- Do things for short periods of time
- Do not force activities
- Cook favorite foods
Behaviour = Depressed
What you see
- Cries frequently
- Appears sad and uninterested
- Lacks appetite
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Talks about dying
What you can do
- Talk about things the person can do now
- Understand that sadness is necessary, especially if a great deal of freedom and control has been lost
- Let the person express his/her feelings
- Help the person talk about how he/she feels
Behaviour = Frustrated / Angry
What you see
- Does not understand why he or she cannot do things as before
- Becomes angry quickly
- Ignores rules
- Strikes out at people and things
What you can do
- Try to anticipate problems before they happen
- Reduce noise and activity
- Breakdown tasks to simple steps
- Do a few steps at a time
- Praise and reward good behavior
Behaviour = Forgetful
What you see
- Starts an activity and forgets to complete it e.g. plugs in the kettle and walks away
- Leaves the water running
- Lights a cigarette and leaves it
What you can do
- Provide a quiet, calm environment
- Remind the person of the task that he / she is doing
Behaviour = Sleeplessness
What you see
- Change in sleep pattern
- Gets up in the night
- Sleeps during the day
- Hyperactivity
What you can do
- Keep the person active during the day
- Let the person have short naps if tired
- Plan an activity for evening time so that the person will not sleep
Behaviour = DISTRACTS EASILY / IMPULSIVENESS
What you see
- Will change from one task to another without finishing it
- Will start a task before knowing how to do it
What you can do
- Make sure the person listens to all the instructions
- Make all instructions simple and short
- Ask the person to tell you what you have just told him/her