Brain Injury in ASOIAF

[Neddy's Girl]

A little about me: I work with people with acquired brain injury (ABI), in a social care, rather than medical capacity, so I have a little knowledge of anatomy, but I'm basing this more on how people present.

So I was watching an Elio and Linda YouTube about Resurrection, where they said Patchface was a possible example; however, I think he may have a hypoxic brain injury.  Whilst drowning, his brain could have been deprived of oxygen, causing widespread damage.

From the wiki: "In his youth, he was a clever boy with astonishing wit; after his accident, however, his mind and body are broken. After his survival from the shipwreck he is described as soft and obese, subject to twitches and trembles and has a weird sideways walk."

There is obviously a loss of cognitive function, twitches and trembles could be epilepsy related, and the sideways walk could be due to unilateral neglect.  Confabulation is fairly common in ABI, as the imagination tries to fill gaps in memory, so I wonder if Patchface's "prophesies" could be just this.

Hodor is often assumed to have an ABI, but this need not be traumatic - it could be a bleed or stroke.  I once worked with a stroke victim who could only articulate "fuck off", so "Hodor" is perhaps slightly better!

Whilst researching the last one, I was reminded of Merrett Frey, who certainly had a severe traumatic brain injury (given how long he was "senseless" for), and credits it with the ruination of his life.

And finally, we have Gregor Clegane, who I believe to have a brain tumour, likely benign, given how long I think he has had it.  I have seen people mention that a pituitary tumour could have contributed to his massive size, but that this could cause physical disability that he does not demonstrate.

My guess is frontal lobe, given his extremely aggressive behaviour and lack of inhibition (although I have seen extreme disinhibition in a pituitary tumour client, probably due to the front of the brain pressing against the skull due to the expanding tumour).  His size could be coincidence.

Gregor is also said to suffer from excruciating headaches, which a tumour would almost certainly cause.  I believe it's rather massive as it's been with him since childhood - remember, no MRI in Westeros!

Any thoughts?  These are just the ones that come into my head now - I'll expand if I think of any more.

[LynnS]

Hodor seems to hum along to a tune only he can hear.  Does this say anything about brain injury?

[Neddy's Girl]

14 minutes ago, LynnS said:

Hodor seems to hum along to a tune only he can hear.  Does this say anything about brain injury?

Maybe... People often report hearing problems with no identified cause in the ear - it's the part of the brain that processes sound.  I know tinnitus can be a real issue for people post-injury.

[Sigella]

Aeron Damphair?

[Neddy's Girl]

15 minutes ago, Sigella said:

Aeron Damphair?

While personality changes are not uncommon following brain injury, I don't think he has the cognitive or physical disability I would expect from an hypoxic brain injury (although, does he have some weakness or spasticity in one leg?  I forget.)

However, I think he definitely has some psychological issues from his childhood,  which he tried to suppress with booze, etc. until he was drowned.  I think his personality change could easily be down to his near death experience.

I'll be searching just now for the "Psychological Issues in ASOIAF".  Blimey - anyone care to therapise Ramsey!?

[Banner Without Brothers]

With the Damphair it may be schizophrenia. He thinks he hears the drowned god but really it's his own thoughts and he has trouble distinguishing between the two.I couldn't tell if that's definetly schizophrenia but it would certainly come under some form of psychosis (break from reality).

[Javelin Catcher]

Brain injury vs psychological issues in this story?  How can you tell the difference sometimes ?

and there are sooo many people with psychological issues it will take years.

But ramsay/Joffrey/viserys might be a very engaging compare and contrast exercise

perhaps I should start that thread?

[Neddy's Girl]

36 minutes ago, Javelin Catcher said:

Brain injury vs psychological issues in this story?  How can you tell the difference sometimes ?

and there are sooo many people with psychological issues it will take years.

But ramsay/Joffrey/viserys might be a very engaging compare and contrast exercise

perhaps I should start that thread?

He he - go for it.

I read something (on Tower of the Hand?) illustrating the difference between psychopathy and sociopathy using Roose and Ramsey respectively, which I think makes sense.  Also how many characters have PTSD at this point?

I would say that in my experience there's quite a difference between brain injury and psychiatric illness, although they are by no means exclusive!  A brain injury has a clear cause, e.g. trauma, infection, often with loss of consciousness, and a scan will normally show damage.  The onset of mental illness is more subtle, and it's unlikely there are physiological changes to the brain.

They also present differently.  Although mental health issues and personality disorders are risk factors for brain injury, and depression, anxiety, poor motivation, and even obsessive compulsive behaviour can be consequences, so it's often hard to do any rehabilitation with these complicating issues.

[Lost Melnibonean]

4 hours ago, Banner Without Brothers said:

With the Damphair it may be schizophrenia. He thinks he hears the drowned god but really it's his own thoughts and he has trouble distinguishing between the two.I couldn't tell if that's definetly schizophrenia but it would certainly come under some form of psychosis (break from reality).

It's Bloodraven. 

[Neddy's Girl]

15 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

It's Bloodraven. 

Ooh, I like that!

[Lost Melnibonean]

24 minutes ago, Neddy's Girl said:

Ooh, I like that!

Then you might like this. 

[Neddy's Girl]

On 10/05/2017 at 6:54 PM, Lost Melnibonean said:

Then you might like this. 

Cheers!