Suffering from trauma to the head and brain can result in numerous – and often unexpected – effects on your overall health and wellness. While you may predict some of these changes, others might come as a surprise.
For example, brain injuries can impact your personal relationships. In fact, it might influence your ties to others so much that it could put your marriage at risk.
Alterations to your personality and behavior
The Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center discusses ways that brain injuries can affect other areas of your life. This especially applies to traumatic brain injuries (TBI), which often have prolonged effects and noticeable health ramifications.
TBIs can impact personalities and behaviors, which can in turn affect relationships. For example, you may experience increased aggression and a decreased ability to avoid acting rashly or without thought. Impulse control often becomes very difficult for brain injury survivors and many lose their healthy coping mechanisms for stressful situations.
You may find yourself verbally or even physically lash out at loved ones, which is a huge problem for many reasons. Your spouse may feel like they have married a stranger, with changes to your personality making you generally unrecognizable.
Shifts of household responsibilities
It is also easier for spouses to end up stressed because they will have to take on a disproportionately large amount of work while you recover from your injury. Recovery can last months, years or even a lifetime, meaning major adjustments must happen at home. Sooner or later, these changes can take a toll on a spouse.
There are ways to keep your marriage from failing, though. In addition to recovery tools your healthcare provides you with, consider seeking personal and joint therapy as well.
