Citation

McAllister TW. Biol. Psychiatry 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.024

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This special issue of Biological Psychiatry, devoted to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and expertly curated by Drs. Stein and Nelson, deserves attention not only for the content contained within but also for what it represents to the field of psychiatry. Understanding and treating the sequelae of TBI requires a full appreciation of the traits of individuals who are at risk for TBI, the brain regions and circuits most vulnerable to damage in such injuries, the meaning of the injury to the individual, the increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders conferred by such injuries, and the social environment in which that individual embarks on his or her recovery. While most clinicians are familiar with the biopsychosocial paradigm proposed by Engel, a thorough understanding of TBI requires a neurobiopsychosocial framework. Or, more simply and famously put by the British neurologist Sir Charles Symonds: "The later effects of head injury can only be properly understood in the light of a full psychiatric study of the individual patient, and in particular, his constitution. In other words, it is not only the kind of injury that matters, but the kind of head. It is not far-fetched to suggest that TBI is an exemplar (perhaps the best exemplar) of a neuropsychiatric disorder.

Language: en