A concussion results in changes in the brain that can cause a young athlete to be more irritable, emotional, sad and/or depressed. In addition, athletes whose concussion takes more than a week to ten days to resolve - particularly teen athletes whose lives revolve around sports - are likely to have an emotional reaction to being away from sports and their friends for an extended period. The combination can lead a concussed athlete to experience serious emotional problems, even to the point of threatening suicide.
Parents and schools, says sports concussion neuropsychologist, Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, PhD, therefore need to watch for signs of depression, and be pro-active in providing support for emotional issues resulting from concussion.
For some parents and athletes, a recommendation to retire from contact or collision sports comes as a relief, because the journey of multiple concussions, long-lasting symptoms [2], and the effect on overall quality of life has led them to appreciate that the brain is too precious to jeopardize any further.
For others, the decision to change sports is extremely agonizing. For them, their sport has defined who they are as athletes, as parents, and as a family. Leaving the sport means no longer being part of a social network and a group of their peers (for both parents [3] and kids), and leaving behind the travel, the games, the tournaments, and joy of team success, and eliminating a way of expressing a specific athletic talent that has been groomed and nurtured for years, often since early childhood. Unfortunately, for a few, it may mean removing the only activity in which the child fields confident and self-assured.
I have found that the athletes who fare best when faced with an extended absence from sports or who are forced to retire from a contact or collision sport are those who also enjoy other low-risk sports, are talented in other endeavors in their lives, have clear academic goals, fear the risk of further injuring their brains, have high self-esteem, and have parents who are easily able to support their child through the emotional turmoil that a concussion can leave in its wake and help them make the right decision about retirement.
As a result, here are some strategies I suggest parents of children playing contact or collision sports employ to ensure the best possible outcome for their child:
Posted December 6, 2011
Links:
[1] http://fast.wistia.com/embed/iframe/5a1f762e45?videoWidth=640&videoHeight=360&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&autoPlay=true&popover=true&plugin[postRoll][version]=v1&plugin[postRoll][text]=For more youth sports concussion information, click here.&plugin[postRoll][link]=http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/concussion-safety&plugin[postRoll][style][backgroundColor]=#050505&plugin[postRoll][style][color]=#55b8fa&plugin[postRoll][style][fontSize]=36px&plugin[postRoll][style][fontFamily]=Gill Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif&plugin[socialbar][version]=v1&plugin[socialbar][buttons]=embed-email-twitter-googlePlus-facebook&plugin[socialbar][tweetText]=True or false: emotional problems after concussion are common?&plugin[socialbar][showTweetCount]=true
[2] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/3550
[3] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/2829
[4] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/3015
[5] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/2904
[6] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/concussion-safety/news-studies/concussions-linked-to-depression-study-says
[7] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/return-to-sports-psychological-readiness-as-important-as-physical-readiness