Real story 'soul changes after head injury'

The story of a person with a head injury, then turned into a person with opposite personality seems popular in horror movies and comedies. How does science see it?

Have you ever seen horror movies, in which the main character from a gentle person suddenly has a head injury and reveals opposite personality, such as a serial killer? Or someone turned into a genius after . bumping his head somewhere? Ancient Western philosophy also referred to "soul alteration" after an injury .

In the article just published in The Conversation, neuroscience doctor Leanne Rowlands from Bangor University (Wales, United Kingdom), analyzed the problem in this perspective from modern science.

Can brain injury turn you into another person?

The answer is entirely possible but it is the story of the brain, not the soul. And the way the brain changes is very different from the type of change in movies.

Phineas Gage's profile - the young, intelligent, talented, ethical construction manager - well described in the literature since 1848 is a good example. After the labor accident made a skull piercing stick, injury to the prefrontal cortex, Gage completely changed. The gentleman turned into a rude, aggressive and irresponsible man. Even the manager must ask female colleagues not to be alone with him for fear of harassment.

Another record in 2000 also made scientists more controversial: a respectable 40-year-old teacher suddenly became a child sexual abuser. Because of previous good deeds, the victims even tried to ignore and hide until he was found abusing his own daughter. This tendency of child abuse has disappeared after doctors discovered a tumor that caused brain compression and removed it.

According to Dr. Leanne Rowlands, the above cases all have in common is the damage to the prefrontal cortex , especially "orbitofrontal cortex ". When this area has the role of managing behavior, adjusting emotions and controlling the owner to respond appropriately to things happening in life.

The harm of losing control in behavior management is probably quite obvious, but emotional disturbance is equally dangerous.

Difficulties in adjusting emotions not only make them rude but also make them more miserable. Many people who survive brain injury suffer from depression, anxiety disorder, social isolation. And this worsens the ability to adjust behavior.

In addition, the ability to respond to all things in life is no longer normal that makes the patient's worldview a mess. They lose their ability to behave according to normal standards.

According to Dr. Rowlands, this does not mean that we accept a person after being injured and acting like a criminal or vice versa, becoming depressed and alone. They need help right after the injury. They are tests of physical visible injuries as well as psychological-psychiatric treatments to help them learn to control once again behavior, emotions and ways of living in society.