Why Traumatic Head Injuries Are an Urgent Feminist Issue

[polly7]

Given the already precarious circumstances of many domestic abuse survivors, early and accurate diagnosis is essential.

By Sophie Ghitman / AlterNet June 20, 2015

But a recent article in the Huffington Post posits that a different group may make up the majority of those living with TBI. Melissa Jeltsen writes that survivors of domestic violence are now thought to experience these injuries in numbers that eclipse previous estimates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's haveestimated that 1.7 million people experience TBI every year, and 2 percent of the population, or 5.3 million Americans, are living with a disability caused by it. But experts speculate that as many as 20 million women each year - up to 6% of the population - could have TBI caused by domestic violence.

Walker is now a coordinator for Sojourner Center, one of the largest domestic violence shelters in the U.S. On June first, Sojourner Center launched the BRAIN (Brain Recovery And Inter-professional Neuroscience,) Program. Together with TBI experts at local hospitals and medical institutions, BRAIN will seek to determine the percentage of domestic violence survivors suffering from TBI caused by domestic violence. They hope to develop an accurate estimate by screening the roughly 9,000 women and children who are seen at Sojourner every year.

The program will investigate the occurrence of domestic violence-related TBI, its short-term and long-term effects, and how best to provide individualized treatment plans. BRAIN also aims to develop tools that can be used by non-medical staff, such as social workers and shelter employees, to screen for head trauma.

For Kerri Walker, It’s taken enormous time and effort to adjust to life after TBI. "It’s changed me for the rest of my life," Walker said. "My short-term memory is shot. I’ll be writing and I’ll mix up letters. All of a sudden, I’ll write an E backwards. I had to find a new normal for myself.” Walker had a brain aneurysm rupture just four months after leaving her abusive partner. It’s taken her years to accept the effects of her cumulative brain injuries.

Full article: http://www.alternet.org/why-traumatic-head-injuries-are-urgent-feminist-issue?akid=13232.44541.7sKtqB&rd=1&src=newsletter1038135&t=9

I sometimes wonder if I should go get checked. I have pictures that look like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson over many years, one with my nose under my left eye. I do some things sometimes like the women in this article ... like forgetting how to write a letter, or not being able to concentrate at all for brief periods of time. I'm probably fine, but it would be interesting to get tested although I imagine it's way too late to do anything.

[intheflow]

1. I'm going to add that many abusers have also suffered TBI

from their childhoods growing up in abusive homes. I know one of my ex's had one, and I'll bet a second one did. They were both abusive in turn, though only one was physically abusive. The other's childhood was a mix of physical and psychological abuse. He was the one who definitely knew he'd had a childhood brain injury at his father's hands. He thought he was fabulous because he didn't hit me, had no clue at all of the psychological abuse he flicked at me like a chimp flicks poo. I think the TBI made him blind to that aspect of himself, along with an inability to see his other limitations.

[polly7]

2. Yes, I agree that many, probably most have had some sort of abuse as a child.

Mine didn't. His parents were wonderful, I asked him what the most hurtful thing he ever had happen was ...... he said, when he was 16 and wrecked his dad's truck he got hell for it. Mine was a sociopath. The only time he was ever hit was when playing hockey or fighting after drinking at the bar or something. People said he was the strongest man they'd ever known ... he won arm-wrestling contests all over the place, he took on two men at a time and beat them both. He could lift things others wouldn't even try - they loved him at his job, he was a great worker and they could depend on him to get anything done. People really admired him for his strength. He was very, very handsome and would do anything for anyone - almost like two people. They didn't know that he felt entitled to abuse his strength at home though, as well.

[intheflow]

3. I'm sorry.

I dated a version of that guy, too, not one of the two ex's I mentioned above. His father was an alcoholic, but not abusive, just kind of... pathetic. His mother was a saint. He turned out an insane drunk, even as all his siblings (there were 6 of them) all turned out lovely and sober. Go figure.

[polly7]

4. I'm sorry to you, too, for what you went through.

It's horrible trying to figure it all out while you're caught in the middle of it. For mine, psychological torture was something he was good at, too. One day, wonderful ... the next, you look for a place to hide when you know he's coming home. It is strange how people turn out. My mother was very abusive, physically and emotionally to the oldest of us (we're nine kids, she was probably overwhelmed, but still ...), and I could never in my life knowingly hurt someone in any way. I learned to stick up for myself, definitely, but the thought of causing anyone to feel pain hurts me to my soul. I think that's why I let it last so long - the pleas like 'you're my best friend', 'what would I do without you' etc., etc. etc. - I believed all that shit, and it went round and round in my head how could I hurt him. Crazy-making.

I do believe many women have been punched hard enough and often enough to have TBI's and have never been dx'd, for all the good it might do.

[mopinko]

5. this is an issue near and dear to my heart.

my daughter had a tbi when she was 5, and i did not know. it was an accident playing w her brother. but it caused bad epilepsy that was not detected until she was 21.
it was so bad it affected her development. she saw a bazzillion doctors and no one ever put it together until she started having very overt seizures.

i am so glad this issue is gaining traction. i have talked to a couple state legislators here. we think that screening for brain injuries should be part of the school physical.
kids have to have sound teeth, eyes and ear to succeed in school, but we dont bother to look at their brains.

i think that these injuries are a big part of the link between poverty and violence. they make it so hard to live a normal life.
even if the damage is small, in the right part of the brain, it can ruin your life.

[polly7]

6. Oh, I'm so sorry mopinko.

You're right, children should be screened, especially when they receive a TBI and their brains are still developing. I imagine the damage could be a lot worse, as it was for your daughter. That must have been terrible. I hope she's doing alright now.

[mopinko]

7. she is getting there.

she is so brave. she had a shrink tell her- no more doctors. you have to stop looking for a physical cause for your problems.
she switched shrinks.

they are trying to get her stable. mostly they have the seizures under control, but she is really struggling to get her body working right. maybe she never will.
but she is starting to think she might have a future. that makes me pretty damn happy.

really, the ways this messed her us are just amazing. it affects her autonomic functions. her heart and circulation funky. her digestion is funky. she has tremors.
and she has been called a hypochondriac so many times it is just disgusting. and a drug seeker.

i really dont know how she manages as well as she does. but she is thinking about going to college. she had a nice scholarship out of high school and ended up getting sick and dropping out after just 3 weeks.
hopefully that money is still there for her.

[polly7]

8. Oh, no. It sounds like she's been through hell and back.

Some doctors need to go back to med school for a while, imo. Anyone that calls a person suffering like she did a hypochondriac shouldn't be treating anyone. That must have been devastating for her to hear while trying to understand the physical troubles she's having. Anyone with common sense should realize that an injury to the brain could affect many body systems and see that she wasn't out 'seeking drugs'. Jerks.

I can imagine how relieved you are to see she's hoping for a future - it's terrifying when you love someone who's lost hope. She sounds like a very strong girl with what she's managed already, if the college is aware of her injury and condition they'll take that into consideration? I'll cross my fingers for your daughter. I really hope her future is amazing.

[mopinko]

9. i'll be very interested to see what this study shows.

i know at least one domestic abuse victim who is struggling with this. she is poor, unable to get a job, and finally getting much needed healthcare thanks to that asshole obama. ;-P

i havent heard anything so far about what can be done for this, tho. therapy, both for the emotional toll and occupational therapy for the physical effects are all i know.
hopefully now that this is getting publicized so much there will be greater efforts to find real treatments.