The Connection between Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Therapeutic Approaches

Abstract

A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by an external force (vehicle, accidents, violence, sports injuries, industrial accidents, falls). Brain trauma can occur either from an object penetrating the skull or from rapid acceleration (speeding up), or deceleration (slowing down or stopping suddenly) of the brain. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a major cause of mortality and disability, especially in children and young adults. Based on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), the neurological scale used to measure a person's level of consciousness after a brain injury, traumatic brain injury is classified as: mild (GCS 13 -15), moderate (GCS 9 -12), severe (GCS 8 or less), and evaluates the following functions: Eye Opening (E), Motor Response (M), and Verbal Response (V), to determine a patient's overall GCS, add together the scores from eye opening, motor response and verbal response. Scores range from 3 to 15. A score of 8 or less signifies coma. Symptoms can vary depending on the severity of the head injury. An individual with a mild traumatic brain injury can remain conscious, or may experience a loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes. Other symptoms may include headache, confusion, dizziness, vision changes, ringing in the ears or changes in hearing, fatigue or lethargy, a change in sleep patterns, behavioral or mood changes, and cognitive and/or executive functioning problems. People with a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury may show the same symptoms, but may also have a headache that gets worse, repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures, an inability to awaken from sleep, dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes, slurred speech, weakness or numbness in the extremities, loss of coordination, and increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder secondary How to cite this paper: Hagiescu, S. M.

Front and center: Maturational dysregulation of frontal lobe functional neuroanatomic connections in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…Frontal lobe lesions in adults allows us to observe hyperactivity control mechanisms more readily ( Clay et al, 2019 ; Hagiescu, 2021 ). Hyperactivity, both in childhood and in adulthood, can be viewed as a disturbance of higher levels of cortical inhibition manifested as an absence of orienting responses inhibition ( Posner et al, 1998 ; Brown et al, 2021 ; Williams and Das, 2021 ), an inhibitory deficit of inappropriate responses ( Posner et al, 1998 ) and/or a disinhibition of inhibitory cortical reflexes ( Neely et al, 2017 ), or retained primitive reflexes ( Melillo and Leisman, 2010 ; Melillo et al, 2020 ; Bob et al, 2021 ; Sigafoos et al, 2021 ).…”