A Link Between Concussion and Depression
A recent, April 2014, issue of the APA Monitor on Psychology indicates that newly released research from Seattle Children’s Hospital suggests that teens that have experienced a concussion where three times more likely to suffer from depression in comparison to those who have never been concussed. The research was gathered from a nationwide sample of individuals between the ages of 12 to 17 and when controlled for other factors including poverty and a family history of mental illness still found a significant correlation between having experienced a concussion and later experiencing depression. The correlation between depression and concussion is less clear with individuals that have sustained mild traumatic brain injury (mild concussion). The researchers, Sara Chrisman, M.D. and Laura Richardson, M.D., in their original article, conclude that the result suggest a strong need to screen for depression in adolescents that have experienced concussion regardless of the level of severity.