In a previous post from the Brain Injury Congress in Melbourne, Australia, I reported on a presentation by Graham Teasdale, M.D. regarding his keynote address. As you will recall in that address, Dr. Teasdale spoke about his present research which demonstrated that a significant proportion of those with mild traumatic brain injury still had disabilities and impairments five to seven years post injury. Dr. Teasdale’s research also disclosed that those persons with acquired mild traumatic brain injury who were still disabled, had a high incidence of depression. I recently read in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Volume 62, May 2005, an article by Harvey S. Levin, Ph.D. and colleagues entitled Predicting Depression Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. The authors concluded that the study “supports the feasibility of identifying patients with mild traumatic brain injury who are high risk for developing major depressive episode by three months’ post injury, which could facilitate selective referral for potential treatment and reduction of negative outcomes.” The study found that abnormalities on CT scan increased the risk of depression
