It is actually estimated that more than a single million adults within the UK are at the moment living with all the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Rates of ABI have improved significantly in recent years, with estimated increases more than ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This 
improve is on account of a range of things like improved emergency response following injury (Powell, 2004); far more cyclists interacting with heavier site visitors flow; increased participation in dangerous sports; and bigger numbers of pretty old individuals within the population. Based on Good (2014), one of the most prevalent causes of ABI inside the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road targeted traffic accidents (circa 25 per cent), although the latter category accounts to get a disproportionate variety of more serious brain injuries; other causes of ABI incorporate sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is extra prevalent amongst guys than females and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and over eighty (Good, 2014). International data show similar patterns. One example is, within the USA, the Centre for Disease Handle estimates that ABI impacts 1.7 million Americans every single year; children aged from birth to 4, older teenagers and adults aged more than sixty-five possess the highest prices of ABI, with men much more susceptible than ladies across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury in the United states of america: Truth Sheet, obtainable on the net at www.cdc.gov/ LDN193189 manufacturer traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is also rising awareness and concern inside the USA about ABI amongst military personnel (see, e.g. Okie, 2005), with ABI prices reported to exceed onefifth of combatants (Okie, 2005; Terrio et al., 2009). While this short article will focus on current UK policy and practice, the problems which it highlights are relevant to several national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Function and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. Many people make a very good recovery from their brain injury, while other people are left with substantial ongoing issues. Additionally, as Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury just isn’t a reliable indicator of long-term problems’. The possible impacts of ABI are well described both in (non-social perform) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in private accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). Even so, given the limited attention to ABI in social work literature, it is worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing a number of the prevalent after-effects: physical troubles, cognitive issues, impairment of executive functioning, alterations to a person’s behaviour and adjustments to emotional regulation and `personality’. For a lot of people with ABI, there will be no physical indicators of impairment, but some may perhaps expertise a array of physical issues including `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches being specifically frequent after cognitive activity. ABI may perhaps also trigger cognitive issues such as problems with journal.pone.0169185 memory and lowered speed of data processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive aspects of ABI, while difficult for the individual concerned, are reasonably easy for social workers and other folks to conceptuali.
