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Adult traumatic brain injury: expected recovery? Volume 88, issue 4, Avril 2012

Authors
Professeur en psychologie, université Paris-VIII, laboratoire de psychopathologie et neuropsychologie, 2, rue de la Liberté, 93526 Saint-Denis Cedex, France, Docteur en psychologie, université Paris-VIII, laboratoire de psychopathologie et neuropsychologie, 2, rue de la Liberté, 93526 Saint-Denis Cedex, France, Professeur honoraire de neurologie, CHU, service de médecine physique et de réadaptation, 92380 Garches, France

Acute skull fractures (ASF) represent a “silent epidemic” as it is little known and less well taken into account. They are the leading cause of death and disability in young adults. After intensive care and rehabilitation, physical recovery extends, on average, over the period of a year. Then, the patient is capable of walking alone and independent in performing daily activities. Intellectual recovery, usually incomplete, often extends over two years. Mood or behavioural disorders are, in the long term, the major factors of disability. The issue of restoration of ASF cannot be limited only to the medical field. The main factors of recovery for victims of ASF are: motivation; awareness and sufficient acceptance of the disability, stabilization of an emotional state; a domestic partner and an available professional; “reconstruction of identity” based on an emotional investment, work and leisure.