Recovery time after a traumatic brain injury depends on its severity. A concussion may require two to three weeks before symptoms go away. More severe traumatic brain injuries can mean months or years of rehab to regain lost brain function. Even so, full recovery isn’t always possible.
According to the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC), a national research center that deals extensively with traumatic brain injury, at two years after a moderate or severe TBI, about 30% of people need some assistance from another person in their daily lives. Victims often still have trouble thinking, and about 25% experience depression. Roughly 50% can drive again, although maybe not as often or in the same way as they did before. Only 30% have a job, though not necessarily the same one they had before the TBI. Again, those statistics apply to victims who are two years into recovery, so further recovery is still possible, but it shows just how much time and work is necessary.