Family Resources

Every four minutes in the State of Texas, someone is involved in a traumatic brain injury. In the US, a TBI occurs about every 21 seconds. You can imagine how many families are impacted by traumatic brain injury each year, and the incredibly difficult process of adjustment they go through.

Adjustment to brain injury is truly a family task. It is not done in isolation. The entire family manages and endures the long hospitalization, the rehabilitation process, and the transition of their loved one, either to another setting or home. Then, there is sometimes continuing therapy even after the arrival home.

One of the obvious conclusions we can make just thinking about all this is that families are exhausted from their experience. They have been dealing with life at a heightened level of stress for some time, and it isn't going to go away. They and their injured loved one have gone through a myriad of feelings and emotional experiences including denial, numbness, panic, isolation, anger, loss of dignity, family conflict, depression, fear, anxiety, regret, hopelessness, feeling out of control. These feelings continue for a long while, and the wounds are easily torn open again even later.

Finally, most families are able to move toward acceptance, honesty, realistic planning for the future, and are able to move on with their new lives - lives which have been redefined. So much has changed.

What are the factors which keep families moving effectively through this long process of adjustment? First, families need a healthy commitment to each other - family cohesiveness. This is the ability to stick together through anything. Second, it is important that there are good interpersonal relationships between family members (marital, sibling, parent-child). A third issue is the perception the family has about this incident in their lives. If the family is able to gradually grieve the loss they have had, they will come to a more accepting definition of this life event, thus decreasing its stressfulness. A fourth factor is that of flexibility. This is extraordinarily important due to all the changes that have taken place, and they will continue. Another facet of flexibility is the ability and willingness to try new things and to do them in a less than perfect fashion. A sense of humor is invaluable in managing to stay flexible. Finally, an adequate external support system greatly reduces the load. There is a tendency in some families to isolate under stress. This is not healthy. Families need the help of the larger community, relatives, friends, church, and other groups.

In conclusion, families and their loved ones are able to survive this process given time, given honesty, given hard work. Each family member needs to develop adequate self-care skills to assist them for the long haul. It is clear how important communication is between family members to help them adjust.