Mild traumatic brain injury: Impact on identity and ambiguous loss in the family.

Research has revealed that almost half of relationships will end in divorce or separa-tion when one member experiences a head injury. Many patients are not diagnosed initially, or for several months or years af-ter their injury. Persons dealing with the numerous long-term cognitive and physical problems accompanying mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) may develop a pro-found sense of “loss of self. ” This loss of self, manifest as identity ambiguity on the part of the MTBI subject may be strongly corre-lated with perceptions of boundary ambigu-ity on the part of the subject and family resulting from the situation of ambiguous loss. Early recognition and intervention may prevent relational and marital break-down as well as unnecessary distress to family members. This article discusses the theoretical foundations of our research, pre-liminary findings of our ongoing qualita-tive study, and implications for future re-search and clinical intervention.