Objective: The purpose of the study is to describe psychosocial adjustment in patients who present Organic Personality Disorder (OPD) after TBI in relation to patients with TBI without OPD.
Method: The group included patients who were admitted as inpatients in the Neurology Service. Exclusion criteria were: previous personality disorders; previous alcohol and drugs addiction, history of head injury and other neurological diseases. For this purpose, a semi-structured interview based on the ICD-10 was applied to the patient or significant other during the 1st or 2nd week after the accident. Selected patients were evaluated with psychological and psychosocial tests and questionnaires 6 months after head injury, among them: WAIS, Benton Test, Rey Osterrieth Test, Wisconsin Cards, Psychosocial Scale and Neurobehavioural Rating Scale (NRS-27).
Results: No significant differences were observed in relation to demographic characteristics, type of head injury, GCS, or psychometric results. Significant differences were found in the answers to neurobehavioural and psychosocial questionnaires, showing more impairment in patients with OPD.
Conclusions: The results show that, in this group, patients with OPD after TBI present more psychosocial adjustment and emotional problems than patients with TBI without OPD diagnosis. The difference found is independent of cognitive impairments.