On the other hand, people who are extremely self-centered and who have poor social relationships before their injury tend not to do well. One important predictor of how well people do is a sense of humor. I believe that humor is an essential component to getting better. I like to joke with the people that I work with, but not in a hostile way or to make fun of them. Another factor is people's avoidance of drug and alcohol problems.
Some people cope with their personal failures or personal problems through alcohol or drugs.
If you return to alcohol or drugs and don't see the destruction it causes, you will have a hard time coping with this injury. That doesn't mean that people who abuse alcohol or drugs are always going to have negative outcomes. Another factor in head injury is whether or not people freely admit to others that they have a head injury. Many of my patients at first didn't want anybody to know about their injury. But after a while, these same patients realize that there are a lot of people in this world who have had head injuries.