Brain Injury Lawyer

A recent New York Times article details the struggles many families face after one member sustains a traumatic brain injury. Until recently, there had been little to no research conducted on how to rebuild a marriage, and a family, after such a traumatic event. Doctors frequently warn the uninjured spouse that the significant changes in the injured party’s personality is too much for a marriage to stand, and ultimately, these families are faced with divorce.

Contrary to popular belief however, many marriages do survive after a spouse suffers a brain injury. Some studies find divorce rates well below the national average among these couples, including an investigation which was conducted in 2007 which found that the divorce rate was around 17% in couples followed for as long as 90 months after a spouse sustained a brain injury.

The article offers insight into the work Dr. Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA is conducting. Dr. Kreutzer is trying to develop marriage counseling techniques tailored to couples dealing with brain injuries. Traditional marriage counselors often hope to restore people and their relationships to their original form, while Dr. Kreutzer realizes that recovery often means teaching uninjured spouses to forge a relationship with a profoundly changed person — and helping injured spouses to accept that they are changed people.