ABSTRACT
The changes in traumatically head injured persons extract an enormous cost from spouse caregivers. The resulting characterological defects, emotional upheavals, and behavioral changes in the head injured person disrupt usual family interactions and wreak havoc for the spouse (Chwalisz, this volume, chap. 21; Lezak, 1978, 1986; Varney, this volume, chap. 8). If the head injured person survives the injury, life does not resume as it was for either spouse. Usually, spouse caregivers endure a chronically high level of stress for several years, resulting in problems requiring psychological and medical treatment (Chwalisz, 1992; Oddy, Humphrey, & Uttley, 1978).
