In clinical cases involving rape and physical assault, women were previously told by medical and nursing personnel in emergency rooms that they had no injuries other than lacerations and broken bones, which would heal eventually. Frequent problems include symptoms of frontal lobe syndrome, such as poor judgment, flat affect, severe depression with suicidal tendencies, difficulty in learning new material, problems making generalizations, and inability to manage employment and homemaking tasks previously handled with ease. Other difficulties involve partial paralysis of limbs which limit ability to walk and manual dexterity, and increased risk of falling, which can lead to additional peripheral and cerebral damage. Chronic stress, depression, and organic anxiety complicate the lifestyles of women and girls as they adjust to their changed lifestyles after head injury. Often personality changes occur with consequent need for multiple caregivers to provide several aspects of ordinary living activities.
Social isolation complicates family and support network dynamics.
Violence and hostility, ease of anger, poor judgment, and assaults against others become frequent with brain injuries. Neuropsychological implications are illustrated with neuropsychological data on two rape victims. In the absence of appropriate diagnosis and rehabilitation treatment of the brain injuries, there is a downward spiral in overall functioning which is exemplified in the Rape Sample 1 profile after three years of no treatment. The Rape Sample 2 profile illustrates the subtleties of head injury which might be overlooked or misdiagnosed. The abstract was published in the proceedings of that conference.