My Life in Brain Injuries

Josh and Becca had much in common. They seemed like small adults – bright with impressive vocabularies. Both were more oriented toward interacting with adults than dealing with their peers and, most importantly, both were dangerous. If they continued on their paths, it seemed clear the judicial system would eventually be involved.

Josh had been expelled from two schools because he attacked other students when he felt wronged. He threatened terrifyingly specific violence – castration and evisceration were two of his favorites – against those he felt needed to be punished. Articulate, his descriptions of his planned retribution were chilling. Friendless, his primary playmate seemed to be his mother who expressed dismay at adults’ reactions to her son’s behavior. “Other parents don’t seem to understand Josh is just a child.”

In their defense, he was threatening to disembowel their children.

With his seemingly permanent scowl, he reminded me of a dyspeptic old man who had grown to loathe the world and its inhabitants.

Josh was six years old.

A series of standard practice physicians had prescribed psychiatric medications, but Josh’s mother resisted using them, determined to find other solutions.

Eventually she took him to a naturopathic physician (ND) who asked detailed questions about Josh’s history and learned he had hit his head in a playground accident when he was four. He had smacked the ground so hard, gravel had to be tweezed from his scalp and forehead.

Although no one had previously connected the two events, the changes in his personality had occurred within a few weeks of the playground incident. Josh went from a cheerful, upbeat kiddo to a malcontent with a hair-trigger temper. Suspecting a link between injury and behavior changes, the ND referred Josh for neurofeedback.

After a thorough intake, Josh received LENS – Low Energy Neurofeedback System – weekly over a six week period. LENS is especially effective in addressing the consequences of head injuries.

Significant improvements in his mood and tolerance of others were noted after the first session of feedback and he returned to being a fun-loving child within a matter of weeks. Children, whose brains are more plastic than adults’, tend to respond to the feedback quickly.

Becca provided a similar presentation.

With huge brown eyes, blonde ringlets, and chubby pink cheeks, Becca was an adorable looking five year old. Whereas people had found themselves put off by Josh’s sour demeanor, adults found Becca disarmingly polite, but she reminded me of Eddy Haskell, Wally’s smarmy friend on Leave It to Beaver. Her façade quickly fell away when someone or something displeased her. Then the little cherub transformed into a rage-filled demon who fought with impressive strength and stamina, breaking anything she could pick up, injuring children and adults alike. She had been “removed” from three pre-schools due to violent behavior and had to be closely monitored when playing with other children or animals.

When she wasn’t angry, she had a passive disregard for kids her own age. For example, at school during nap time, she would get up from her floor mat and walk on the bodies of the other children as if they weren’t there, much as a lizard crawls over whatever is in its path. Even more worrisome were her disturbingly specific and dispassionately delivered plans to disfigure or immolate the classmates who displeased her.

According to Trudy, Becca’s mom, Becca had a normal gestation and birth, and had been a happy, “easy” baby. At about ten months old, when Trudy needed to move Becca’s car seat from one car to another, she decided to leave Becca strapped into the seat. Once the door of the second car was open, Trudy realized the back of the car was too cluttered to fit the car seat inside. She balanced the car seat on the trunk of the car with Becca facing away from the car and started to clean out the backseat. Unfortunately, the car seat was not stable on the roof of the trunk and fell forward. Becca hit the pavement face first with the weight of the car seat pushing against the back of her head.

Trudy rushed the screaming baby to their doctor’s office and was reassured that no permanent damage had been done, apparently based on the observation that the baby was crying. Becca was inconsolable for the rest of the day, crying nonstop through the night. When consulted the next day, the doctor again expressed his belief that this was a good sign and things would soon calm down.

Things never did calm down. From that point, Becca was a “problem child”. Her sleep continued to be disrupted and once she could walk, she prowled the house while others slept. After setting a fire in the living room, she had to be locked in her bedroom at night. As she grew, she took delight in others’ discomfort and was feared by her siblings, cousins, and the neighborhood kids.

Becca is one of my regrets. I did not get to work with her after our first visit which did not include neurofeedback. Her parents were engaged in a bitter divorce (was it going to happen anyway or was it because living with a human time bomb is so wearing?) and Becca’s father insisted that Trudy was pursuing alternative healthcare options in order to bankrupt him. (I know this because he called my office and told me so, berating me for being a quack.)

The concept of “natural born killers” is popular in our culture. Becca and Josh beg the question – how many cold-blooded murderers are head injured? I can only hope Becca eventually got the help she needed. I don’t know for sure neurofeedback would have helped, but I have my suspicions.