ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses pharmacological management of neurobehavioural disability (NBD), both in respect of its positive and negative characteristics, as well as related conditions. It addresses problems that arise in the early stage of recovery, during the period of Post Traumatic Amnesia (PTA), but focuses on the pattern of disability that presents at a later stage of recovery. The chapter considers some drugs that facilitate or inhibit the disordered neurotransmission thought to be associated with NBD, to reduce impulsive, aggressive and antisocial behaviours, or social withdrawal and isolation. Background assessment of patients with NBD must include details of pre-injury factors, which may not only have increased the risk of the original injury but also influence the nature of NBD and thus its drug treatment. Tonic–clonic seizures will usually be self-evident but frontal lobe seizures or complex partial seizures may be less obviously epileptic and may be mistaken for NBD.
