Title: Organic Bipolar Disorder: An Unusual Neuropsychiatric Sequelae Following Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Dr Vadiraj Gorebal, Dr Rajeev.S.Swamy, Dr Shashidhara Hl, Dr Vinod G Kulkarni, Dr Mruthyunjaya N, Dr Reshmi Ramesan, Dr Pavithra Arunachaleeswaran, Dr Ashwathi Janakiram
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i3.236
Abstract
Introduction
Psychiatric disorders are one of the major causes of disability after traumatic brain injury (TBI).1 First detailed report of psychiatric symptoms following traumatic brain injury (TBI) was the famous case of Phineas Gage, in 1848, a construction worker who survived an injury in which an iron bar went through his skull, seriously damaging the frontal lobe.2 His Doctor, John Harlow, described Phineas Gage personality before head injury as socially well-adjusted and was handling responsibility well.2 Gage became negligent, irreverent and profane, unable to take responsibility following brain injury.2 In early 20th century systematic study on this topic was done by American psychiatrist Adolf Meyer.3 He published comprehensive case reports about patients who presented with behavioural disturbances after head injuries and proposed a set of disorders called “traumatic insanities”, which included consciousness alterations, psychosis and neurological symptoms.3 Since then many efforts were made to understand more about sequelae of brain injury.
In spite of considerable amount of research in this domain, the scientific evidence remains inconclusive. However many previous studies were of the opinion that behavioural disturbances were common following brain injury. Although the most common mood disorder following TBI is depressive disorder,4 some case studies havealso reported about bipolar disorder as a sequelae of TBI. Here we discuss about a middle aged male patient who presented with bipolar disorder post TBI.
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