Knowing What to Look for Can Aid in Proper Diagnosis & Treatment of Mild Traumatic Brai...( OAKLAND Calif. Aug. 6 /- ...),Health

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006), approximately 1.5 million Americans sustain traumatic brain injuries every year, 75 percent of which are considered mild. There has been a recent surge in interest concerning mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI's) in the U.S., due in large part to the ongoing involvement of American troops in the Middle East. As many as 18% of the 1.5 million American soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past eight years have suffered from a mild traumatic brain injury, reports the New England Journal of Medicine.

"The trauma that our military personnel continue to endure has propelled our need to better appreciate and adequately treat the dynamics of traumatic brain injury," says Douglas J. Mason, Psy.D, a neuropsychologist who specializes in the diagnosis and rehabilitation of people with brain injuries. In his book, The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Workbook (New Harbinger Publications, 2004), Mason explains that often the biggest hurdle to treating mild traumatic brain injuries is getting the diagnoses. MTBI's are frequently hard to diagnose because of the individualized nature of the injury, and the fact that symptoms vary from impairments in fine motor speed and coordination to changes in abilities to engage in hobbies and leisure activities.

Symptoms include. . .

• Emotional: depression, anxiety, hopelessness, apathy, irritability and emotional numbness
• Behavioral: impatience, anger, frustration, impulsivity, and withdrawal
• Physical: headaches, fatigue, numbness, sensory changes (touch, taste, smell, vision, hearing), vertigo, nausea, and impairments in fine motor speed and coordination
• Cognitive: confusion, disorientation, alterations in judgment, and increased distractibility
• Social: ch
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