Behavioral disturbances as an expression of severity of cerebral damage

The present study was designed to validate our ongoing clinical observations, which reveal that distinct clusters of psychiatric symptoms tend to develop following mild or severe brain injury, independently of injury location. These clusters are termed "Extroversion" and "Introversion" syndromes respectively. The symptoms constituting each syndrome manifest themselves along four domains: behavior, personality, affect and cognition. The study sample included 85 brain-injured patients recalled for a follow-up examination 2-3 years after discharge from hospital. Classification into Extroversion and Introversion was done on the basis of a structured psychiatric interview. Severity of brain damage was independently assessed by combinations of five parameters: unconsciousness and PTA duration, cognitive deficiencies, communication and locomotor disorders. The results supported our clinical observations, suggesting that severity of brain damage could also be assessed by the nature of psychiatric symptomatology exhibited following the injury.