Personality Changes Associated with Localized Brain Injury in Elderly Populations

Emotional disturbances following brain damage have been frequently reported in the literature. However, systematic investigation of these disorders and their specific causes were not common until the last 30 years. However, the number of research studies into this area remains slight compared to the voluminous literature on the cognitive effects of brain injury. The completed research has fallen into 3 major areas: (1) The study of clients with localized brain injuries to evaluate whether the site of the injury predicts the emotional reactions; (2) the effect of time poststroke on personality changes; and (3) the relation of neuropsychological deficits to emotional changes. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research that has been completed in this area with elderly subjects along with an analysis of the current state of the knowledge in this area. Future directions for research to further our understanding are discussed.