I have been diagnosed with Altered Mental Status (AMS) for several years now. I’m not sure why, but at least some of it is because of my long period of not having any issues with my memory or my ability to recall things.
AMS is a mental disorder that’s often associated with the breakdown of a person, and is caused by “brain trauma” or “brain damage”. During an event in someone’s life that results in “brain trauma”, the brain may be temporarily paralyzed due to an injury or the trauma itself. This is why people with AMS often have trouble concentrating on tasks.
AMS is also sometimes associated with depression and anxiety, but if it really is associated with brain trauma, then we would expect to see the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Instead, many people with AMS have no symptoms of either of those disorders. It could be that the brain damage caused by the trauma itself has made the person with AMS more susceptible to depression and anxiety.
Now, you might ask, how can depression and anxiety be caused by brain trauma? Well, the answer is that it’s entirely possible that the trauma itself caused those symptoms. There is a theory that brain trauma can cause changes that lead to depression and anxiety. This theory is called the “free-floating theory,” and it was developed by researchers in the early 1980s.
The theory goes that the brain, and specifically the limbic system, is affected by trauma and that this affects the way the brain works. So when a person experiences traumatic events, such as a car accident, a car wreck, a knife attack, or a heart attack, the body processes the trauma in a way that makes the person more susceptible to depression and anxiety. It’s entirely possible that depression and anxiety are now being caused by brain trauma.
I can attest that this theory is not as out there as it once seemed. For instance, I just moved across the US from New York to California and all I have to say is, I’m no longer depressed. But I’m still not completely crazy either, so perhaps my brain is not actually broken.
A study of people who survive a knife or a heart attack will find that the brain suffers even more damage, and that it is damaged at a much lower rate than the rest of the body. This means that even if a person survives a heart attack or knife attack, the brain is still harmed and will be vulnerable to depression and anxiety.
If you have a brain injury or have recently experienced a traumatic brain injury, it is very likely that you will be depressed. This is because the brain is so easily injured that it is harder to make it better. This is why some hospitals are starting to provide “cognitive rehabilitation” (i.e., cognitive training) to their patients so that they can return to a normal life.
We’ve talked about altered mental states before, and a lot of the work we do with patients with these conditions is to help them regain their normal lives. A lot of the work that we do with these patients is just helping them recover cognitive skills so that they can be functional again. We’re also helping them to recover from depression and anxiety. This is one of those things that doesn’t have to be “cured” like other brain injuries, it can just be reversed.
This is a very new field of help, but there are a few conditions that we feel are more common than others and are more common than people think. Depression and anxiety are two of the most common. These conditions are known to affect around 1.2 million people in the U.S. and often go untreated. In some cases their symptoms go unnoticed for years and then they develop another set of symptoms and the cycle continues. For many patients with depression and anxiety, this can be very debilitating.