MENTAL ILLNESS AND UNDIAGNOSED BRAIN TRAUMA


There is promising news in the area of mental illness and treatment.

It is increasingly becoming obvious to brain specialists that a percentage of people suffering from an assortment of psychiatric disorders may have undiagnosed brain injury as the cause.  In recent months, autopsies of former NFL players (such as football legend Frank Gifford, and just this week, 27-year-old Tyler Sash, who died of an accidental overdose of pain medication) have indicated that brain injury is common among them.

Dr. Daniel Amen, who has specialized for over two decades in a specific type of brain scan that measures brain performance, has seen strong evidence that this is true, not only of football players, but of mentally ill criminals in the penitentiaries, as well as others.  He has treated children who have been screened and found to have injuries or other brain illness that have caused behavioral problems.  The best news is, he has also found that many of these injured or diseased brains can be treated and rehabilitated.

There will be more on this as time goes on.