According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), in addition to cognitive impairments individuals who have a TBI may experience changes in levels of consciousness, confusion associated with deficits in orientation, new onset or worsening of seizure disorder, visual field deficits, and/or hemiparesis.
A TBI can be categorized as focal (e.g., gunshot wound) or widespread (e.g., diffuse axonal injury sustained in a motor vehicle accident). Severity of a TBI is based on the following: extent and nature of the injury, duration of loss of consciousness, posttraumatic amnesia (PTA; loss of memory for events immediately following injury), and extent of confusion at initial assessment during the acute phase of the individuals’s injury (APA, 2013; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015).
The Department of Defense (DOD) labels the levels of severity with four categories (Defense Health Agency, 2019).
This includes:
- Concussion/Mild TBI
- Moderate TBI
- Severe TBI
- Penetrating TBI
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2016). Scope of practice in speech-language pathology [Scope of practice]. Available from www.asha.org/policy/American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2018). Scope of practice in audiology [Scope of practice]. Available from www.asha.org/policy/
