Psychological Distress and Family Satisfaction Following Traumatic Brain Injury: Injured Individuals and Their Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Carers

Abstract

Male relatives (the majority of whom were secondary or tertiary carers) may report their distress in terms of anger and fatigue, rather than as depression and anxiety. Future research could develop TBI-specific measures of anger and fatigue as screening instruments to identify peripheral family members requiring assistance in adapting to TBI. Many families-despite their initial traumatic experience-eventually cope well, encouraging researchers and clinicians to focus future research efforts on those families who have made good adjustments to TBI.