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Total Personality Shift Following Accident / Head Trauma

Zeke Newbold

Carbon based biped.
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Apr 18, 2015
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So... this is based on a `human interest` British TV documentary that I caught over twenty years ago. It may have been called something like `He's Not the Man I Married`(or if not, then that was the gist of it, anyway) It concerned the wife of a man who had been in a serious motoring accident, recovered but emerged from it a different person - and the wife's attempt to deal with this fact.

He had suffered trauma to his brain and this had not so much affected his intellect or memory - but his personality, and with it his physical demeanour too.

Previous to the event, the man had been - so the coverage implied - adventurous, charitable,cool - one hell of a sexy, desirable husband, in short. The new post-accident man (who was on camera) was sort of dorkish - but very affectionate.The wife did not conceal her disappointment.

In fact I remember feeling indignation on behalf of the subject of the documentary: it was though he was being set up as an inadequate and allowed to look as though he were inferior to his previous self, and a let down to his wife.

There was one very poignant moment - which has really stayed with me after all these years. The guy (the new one) was shown kissing his young daughters before they went to bed. `Do you love me?` he asked them `Yes` they said. `Then look me in they eye when you say it`, he replied.

Anyway, the whole thing raises a lot of awkward questions about the nature of our very identity. Both geneticists and astrologers hold that our personality is more or less fixed at birth. Developmental psychologists hold that we are born blank slates and acquire our personalities as a result of our experiences.

However, if a knock on the head can turn us into a new person then a whole lot of questions which neither approach answers come to the fore -viz:

* Where did the old personality go to- and where did the new one come from?
* If our personalities can't even survive an accident, then how can we meaningfully consider survival of death?

And so on. Over to you....
 
Heard of these cases but I don't think they are common. It seems as if head injuries can open new paths in the brain. Reminds me of the cases where people start to speak with a different accent - or even a different language. Blends into the notion of crypto-amnesia and the notion that we remember everything! Personality-shift may just involve a different region of the brain. :confused:
 
IIRC we had a poster who had experienced exactly this following a serious head injury. Trouble is, I can't remember who. I realise this is, on face value, not that helpful, but it may jog someone else's memory?
 
One must draw a distinction between the persistent / innate 'person' and the potentially temporary / transient behavioral complex that person exhibits (i.e., 'personality'). Because we know the person almost wholly from the evidence of his / her behaviors and interactions, we commonly take the 'personality' to be a fixed characterization of the 'person'. However ...

Behavior is malleable, and it is readily affected by significant changes in the biological substrate. A common example would be someone whose behavior shifts under intoxication. Structural insults to the organ we take as the control hub for behavior (i.e., the brain) can result in similar shifts that may persist for an indefinite period - up to and including the remainder of one's life.

The most famous - and arguably first clinically documented - example of behavioral shifts after brain injury would be Phineas Gage. Dramatic changes in his apparent mental abilities and social behaviors are a canonical part of the Gage story, though there's good reason to believe these changes' severity and longevity have been exaggerated in the most popular accounts.

It's difficult to evaluate the nature and degree of such personality changes in isolation, because they are intimately interwoven with (e.g.) social factors to which the patient may have adapted in the wake of the injurious event. For example, an awful accident for which the victim feels blame (especially if he / she caused problems or worse for others) can lead one to turn relatively passive and sheepish from shame rather than neural damage.

My late brother suffered a major head trauma in a car accident, resulting in what was obviously a significant concussion and possibly some cranial impact damage. Within weeks, everyone in the immediate and extended families discreetly noted his personality seemed to have shifted into a meaner, crabbier modality. How much of this was the head injury (versus shame or his nascent severe alcoholism) is open to debate, but the face value / overall behavioral effect was noticeable, and it persisted for the remainder of his life (another 30 years).
 
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Fred West suffered two separate head injuries as a youth.

When he was seventeen, a motorcycle accident left him comatose with serious head injuries, and a metal plate in his head that may, according to some experts, have affected his impulse control. Another head injury incurred when falling off a fire escape at a local youth club caused additional injury, and possibly permanent brain damage to the young West.

His subsequent behaviour became erratic, and he became known to the police for various petty crimes,

http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/fred-west
 
Also what if it's a parallel life meeting up, where that life ended and the soul has joined this one? Different path, different lessons. (Ok it's probably more likely the brain working differently).
 
Also what if it's a parallel life meeting up, where that life ended and the soul has joined this one? Different path, different lessons. (Ok it's probably more likely the brain working differently).
The regulation of emotions in the brain is a horrible complex set of feedback loops between (among others) the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala. Damage to the the PFC will often change personality, as it breaks that system. It's something seen often enough for us to notice, as the PFC is in the 'right place' to get damaged by external trauma (it's close to the skull on the front of the head basically).

There is a link between PFC damage and violent behaviour.

Damage to the amygdala is less common and typically the result of infections causing lesions. Effects vary, but there are cases where the subject has lost all fear responses, even in the face of considerable danger.
 
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Fred West suffered two separate head injuries as a youth.
http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/fred-west

I remember reading a book mentioning the correlation of higher instances of serious head injuries (ie causing unconciousness for more than a few seconds) with later serial offending (including murder). Bearing in mind that correlation doesnt = causation, but it does seem a risk factor, along with early abuse and ASD traits

There is work being done - eg http://usir.salford.ac.uk/32901/
"Neurodevelopmental and psychosocial risk factors in serial killers and mass murderers"

I also read an account of the Charles Whitman shootings a while ago where he left a note complaining of irrational thoughts and he wanted an autopsy done after he was dead to find a reason for his impulses and plans that day - after he was shot dead after his murder spree this was done and he was found to have a brain tumour. More on good old Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman

In my own experience, we have a friend who experienced two successive massive heart attacks and then a stroke within 15 days, he suffered permanent brain damage to his frontal lobes. His personality has significantly changed, although he is now living full time in a care home and receives round-the-clock care, which would be enough to drag someone down for ever in terms of mental health and function he has also lost the capacity for empathy and being able to put oneself into another's situation. He has pretty good memory but now reacts and acts somewhat like a 3 year old child in emotional terms. Very very sad situation and to be honest the air ambulance didn't do him any favours when they resuscitated him en route to hospital.
 
There were some interesting documentaries on the BBC recently about brain injury. Louis Theroux http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07c6fjk and Me and My New Brain http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b063h17m
I recommend! though it can be rather sad stuff of course, seeing how people have to cope with their own injury, or alternatively, how their relatives have to adjust to the changes in their personality and abilities. It makes you realise how fragile we are. And for me (though i can see others above would disagree), kind of trashes any ideas about 'soul' - your personality, your self is your brain. Mr Theroux did another one about dementia and that raised similar thoughts in my mind. That's very worth watching too
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvt26
 
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My mother's dementia raises similar issues. In many ways she's slowly disappeared and a child now occupies her brain. If there is a soul that survives will it be the personality she had pre-dementia, or the confused simpler person she is now? And where is the former in the meantime? Then again its difficult to know what personality even means in that context..she's not become angrier or meaner or some other previously alien character trait, its simply the way she engages with the world is on a much simpler level, not one of complex thought and interaction.

But the question as to what relevance that has on the debate over survival has been addressed many times. It's only an issue if you presuppose the brain to be the "transmitter" of consciousness, but - it's often argued - if you percieve it as the reciever, or a filter through which consciousness passes, then its hardly an issue at all. The usual analogy is of the distortions or breakdown in a radio or tv broadcast when you damage the set. The broadcast is in fact fully intact and working fine "out there", its only what comes out of the set that is damaged. By that analogy, the original, more complete "signal"/personality is still there, merely encumbered by the damaged or altered brain. What, if this analogy is true, life is like inside my mum's own head and thoughts is impossible to imagine though.

Another thing to consider is that personality is surely not the same as emotion or engagement with others...because we all react differently to the same circumstances while in different moods and following personal experiences...we don't then say our personality has changed because we're not as happy as we normally are, or more aggressive than used to be typical. We still recognise we are essentially the same person, just with a different outlook.

Another argument for the idea that personality is somehow inherent from birth is that most parents will observe their own kids are very different from the beginning. Some even from the cradle are timid, some bold, some cry all night and some, like one of my nephews, appear to be born happy and smiling. Of course you could say they're born with different brain chemistry, but the sense at least is that there's an innate quality called personality which precedes any ability to express itself with words or actions.
 
I'll quickly add to that the strange phenomenon of Terminal Lucidity. This is a frequently reported and mysterious phenomenon whereby patients with brain damage, dementia or even a coma, become fully lucid and intelligible - their old selves in fact - immediately before death. This again tempts one to infer that the "real" them had never really gone away, whatever damage has occurred t the brain to give that impression.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/930465-do-alzheimers-dementia-prove-the-soul-doesnt-exist/
 
I'll quickly add to that the strange phenomenon of Terminal Lucidity. This is a frequently reported and mysterious phenomenon whereby patients with brain damage, dementia or even a coma, become fully lucid and intelligible - their old selves in fact - immediately before death. This again tempts one to infer that the "real" them had never really gone away, whatever damage has occurred t the brain to give that impression.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/930465-do-alzheimers-dementia-prove-the-soul-doesnt-exist/
This sounds like what some medics call The Lightening.

Terminal lucidity refers to an unexpected return of mental clarity that occurs in the time preceding a patient's death. This phenomenon has been noted in patients with schizophrenia, tumors, strokes, meningitis, and Alzheimer's disease.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_lucidity
 
I have a lot of contact with dementia people, and i find it amazing that although, some of the time, you cannot understand them, they can understand you, altho, they do have some lucid moments as well, they seem trapped in something that is broken, just like Gattino said
 
Lots of people work in head injury jobs. If the frontal lobe is damaged you can get very weird personality changes - a lot are not nice.
 
The sleeping prophet, Edgar Cayce, is said to have gotten his gift from head trauma due to a fall. I was so impressed I started hitting myself in the head. And it sounds like it doesn't it. Just kidding, my head trauma came from the lobotomy I received in the pubic school system. As you might have noticed the top of my head is cut off from zombie style. I'm am totally lobotomized and highly educated.
 
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Just kidding, my head trauma came from the lobotomy I received in the pubic school system. As you might have noticed the top of my head is cut off from zombie style. I'm am totally lobotomized and highly educated.
You're probably an expert at conforming and 'not rocking the boat' though. :D
 
You're probably an expert at conforming and 'not rocking the boat' though. :D
There's a saying in the Old West that states that if you decide you're going to tell the truth, you had better have one foot in the saddle. I will put it this way, if the government has never threatened you to be quiet, then you have never spoken a word of truth in your life.
 
Especially if someone anticipates you telling the truth. That's why I can't stand to be understood.
 
There was also the case of the American Chiropractor {I think he was) who was featured in a programme about brain injuries. He suddenly became very artistic and couldn't stop drawing. I think he has now exhibited his work worldwide. I've since learned that there is such a thing as brain injury aquired autism. This is where the brain injured person can suddenly find they have a new "talent or gift" in a particular field. There is a good docu on youtube about a young guy who now sees everything in geometric shapes and equations after being assaulted and suffering a brain injury.The problem with these new found talents/gifts is the inability to "switch"them off.As in the case of the Chiropractor, he had to draw all the time, which as you can imagine impacted greatly on his life.
 
A variation on the theme:

I was talking to the pie man at the farmers market, [best pies around] who told me about a guy he knew of who'd had head trauma, don't know how, maybe a car accident, was in a coma for a while & when he came round he'd turned into an extremely vocal racist which he apparently wasn't before.

He was HMRC & used to visit businesses but had to be removed from his role as he could no longer stand coloured people of any type & got extremely abusive.

The subject came up as I told him I don't have any sense of smell since hitting my head in a bike accident. His guy also lost his sense of smell as well as gaining the additional racism.
 
A variation on the theme:

I was talking to the pie man at the farmers market, [best pies around] who told me about a guy he knew of who'd had head trauma, don't know how, maybe a car accident, was in a coma for a while & when he came round he'd turned into an extremely vocal racist which he apparently wasn't before.

He was HMRC & used to visit businesses but had to be removed from his role as he could no longer stand coloured people of any type & got extremely abusive.

The subject came up as I told him I don't have any sense of smell since hitting my head in a bike accident. His guy also lost his sense of smell as well as gaining the additional racism.
Maybe he was already racist but suppressed it? The brain injury may have made that difficult.
 
I was watching the Michael Hutchence documentary Mystify on the iPlayer, and it highlights an incident where his personality changed after an accident. Well, I say an accident, he was attacked in the street and fell, hitting his head and injuring his brain so much he could no longer smell or taste anything. This changed his personality, and may have given him depression or made those mental illness symptoms worse, he was a lot more aggressive, reckless, and developed a drug habit.

It's quite interesting, but still tragic given how he ended up.
 
I was watching the Michael Hutchence documentary Mystify...

It's quite interesting, but still tragic given how he ended up.
Quite coincidentally, was at a friend's house last night and an old episode of, 'Unsolved Mysteries' (or similar) was on background TV.

We watched it for a while and the story featured a woman in the U. S. who had suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Following a lengthy recovery, she didn't recognise any of her family and couldn't understand why they had all grown up.

Turned out she had lost all memories from the last 16 years of her life.

Although I'm not sure if this comes under the topic, there was a distinct personality change - daughter recalling that when she came home from work, her mother would often be playing music loud and dancing around like a teenager.
 
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