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Neuropsychiatric aspects of traumatic brain injury

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Opinion statement

  • Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may produce a variety of neuropsychiatric problems, including impaired cognition, depression, mania, affective lability, irritability, anxiety, and psychosis. Despite the common occurrence of these symptoms following TBI, there are relatively few studies that provide clear guidance regarding management. Many symptoms (eg, irritability, affective lability, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and impaired cognition) are primarily consequences of brain injury rather than symptoms of a comorbid psychiatric disorder such as major depression. Although it is difficult to study the complicated treatments needed for such symptom complexes, we are able to recommend an approach to the evaluation and treatment of neuropsychiatric problems following traumatic brain injury.

  • A thorough assessment of the patient is a prerequisite to the prescription of any treatment. This assessment should include a thorough developmental, psychiatric, and medication history; a detailed mental status examination; a complete neurologic examination; and quantification of neuropsychiatric symptoms using standardized and accepted inventories (eg, Neurobehavioral Rating Scale [1], Neuropsychiatric Inventory [2]. All symptoms must be evaluated in the context of the patient’s premorbid history and current treatment because neuropsychiatric symptoms may be influenced by either factor or by both factors.

  • Psychotherapy is an important component of the treatment of neuropsychiatric problems following TBI. Additionally, patients should be encouraged to become involved with local TBI support groups.

  • When medications are prescribed, it is essential to use cautious dosing (low and slow) and empiric trials with continuous reassessment of symptoms using standardized scales and monitoring for drug-drug interactions. In general, medications with significant sedative, antidopaminergic, and anticholinergic properties should be avoided, and benzodiazepines should be used sparingly, if at all. Although patients with TBI may be particularly susceptible to adverse effects of psychopharmacologic medications, at times dosages similar to those used for the non-brain-injured psychiatric patient may be needed. When a single medication does not provide adequate relief of symptoms or cannot be tolerated at therapeutic doses, an alternative strategy is to augment the effect of one medication by using a second low-dose agent with a different mechanism of action.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East 9th Avenue, Campus Box C268-68, 80262, Denver, CO, USA

    David B. Arciniegas MD & Jeannie Topkoff BS

  2. The Outpatient Center for Mental Health, Lenox Hill Hospital, 1430 Second Avenue, Suite 103, 10021, New York, NY, USA

    Jonathan M. Silver MD

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  1. David B. Arciniegas MD
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  2. Jeannie Topkoff BS
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  3. Jonathan M. Silver MD
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Arciniegas, D.B., Topkoff, J. & Silver, J.M. Neuropsychiatric aspects of traumatic brain injury. Curr Treat Options Neurol 2, 169–186 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11940-000-0017-y

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