Strategy-based cognitive training may help reduce symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and improve neural health for traumatic brain injury patients, according to a new study from the Center for BrainHealth at UT Dallas. 

In the study, published recently in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, participants’ cognitive skills and psychological health improved after the training. 

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Over the past few years, it’s become widely known among the scientific community that traumatic brain injuries, or concussions as they’re more often called, can result in lasting physical and mental damage for the sufferer — a reality that only entered the public consciousness with the emergence of lawsuits filed against the NFL, alleging that they had ignored the evidence showing this when it came to their own players.


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Those with apraxia of speech know what they want to say but sometimes are physically unable to annunciate the words.

“Apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder characterized by difficulty with positioning and movement of muscles for volitional production of speech. Individuals with apraxia of speech have trouble saying what they want to say correctly and consistently,” said Kimberly Y. Butler, Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center speech-language pathologist.

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A new MRI study has found distinct injury patterns in the brains of people with concussion-related depression and anxiety, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. The findings may lead the way to improved treatment and understanding of these common disorders, researchers said.

Post-concussion psychiatric disorders like depression, anxiety and irritability can be extremely disabling for those among the nearly 3.8 million people in the United States who suffer concussions every year. The mechanisms underlying these changes after concussion—also known as mild traumatic brain injury—are not sufficiently understood, and conventional MRI results in most of these patients are normal.


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Thirty years ago, Kerri Walker, now a coordinator for a domestic violence shelter in Phoenix, found herself inexplicably driving down the left side of the road into oncoming traffic. “It felt totally normal,” she said, recalling how she was oblivious to the danger. Walker escaped an accident that day, but looking back now, it was the first clue she had an undiagnosed brain injury.


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After a concussion, a person can be left with disturbed sleep, memory deficits and other cognitive problems for years, but a new study shows that sleep can still help them overcome memory deficits.

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