Some Information on Head Injury Effects

[RVR II]

Bob ain't brokeded no mores!

[LucasM]

This next group of posts started as a comment in the Animated GIF thread regarding this GIF posted there:

I realized after the discussion extended as it did, that they would be of more 'use' here, as well as moving them now 'un-hijacking' the Animated GIF thread.

Since I can only move my own posts, I have tried to keep all quoted material, so that where my comments/responses came from can be clearly seen.

I have also removed all the spoilers from them, as the content is appropriate here, where it wasn't there (so had been hidden as a courtesy to those wanting to merely see animated GIFs).

[LucasM]

I gotta' say: head injuries and spinal injuries are HILARIOUS!

[LucasM]

Quote from: LucasM on December 05, 2013, 09:22:46 PM in the Animated GIF thread

He's fine, you can see him laughing at the end.

People more often than not don't recognize how badly they've been injured immediately after.  Particularly if one is 'dazed' by the impact, which he clearly is as he 'wipes' and holds his face before and as the GIF ends.  With those who don't already know about head injuries, for months they often don't register they've got problems that were there from impact on.

An impact like that is likely to have left that person with neck problems and at least a minor head injury.  From falling on a sidewalk simply from slipping on ice, one of the people in my speech therapy group could no longer talk coherently without significant pausing, and had to basically stop the work she had been doing for years because she could no longer function enough to do it.  That, from falling from an upright position to the ground.

With the way the person in the GIF's head snapped after the impact to the chair, he hit quite hard.  The snap of his neck and head translates to even more brain damage due to the scraping of his brain on the inside of his skull than if he'd simply fallen to the floor.  On top of that is what appears to be significant rotation of his head at impact, which tears large numbers of axons, and provides even more scraping of the brain than a straight impact (without rotation).

[I've blocked the GIF so I no longer have to look at it, as it activates my PTSD.]

[LucasM]

Quote from: LucasM on December 06, 2013, 03:50:07 AM in the Animated GIF thread

Spoilering this because this is on the verge(?) of hijacking the thread.  This is not a spoilered GIF.  This is discussing the 'falling down' GIF on the previous page, with my responding to some comments since.
[[spoiler removed because comments are appropriate to this thread]]

One thing in his favor, it was a padded chair that gave way some, so not like he hit something solid like a table or hard floor.

Well... yes and no.  Because he didn't hit a hard object there will be less focal damage.  But he hit something soft with a rather severe rebound 'snap'.  Because of that, it means a few things.  It means that he actually suffered twice as many impacts overall (his brain slamming into his skull when he hit the chair, and then again when he stopped falling when his shoulder hits the floor).  That snapping back and forth then stopping at the floor means that the grinding of the brain on the inside of the skull, and the increased rotational forces (from the twisting of his head to the side on impact with the chair) would result in a much greater degree of scraping of the superficial layers of neurons in the brain [those responsible for the final correlation of information from deeper neuronal layers] and likely a greater degree of axonal tearing than if he just was hit one solid blow with its rebound.

The double impact from hitting the chair then stopping at the floor, plus the increased scraping and tearing would result in more difficulty doing, well, pretty much everything.  So if he'd hit something hard it would've been massive damage to a more focal area (with somewhat less damage to the area directly opposite of that area [contracoup], and less scraping of the brain in the skull).  Instead he's left with 'lesser' global damage.  Honestly, having had accidents that did each, I'd rather have the single focal area than the global damage [depending where the 'single focal area' was, some areas are virtually impossible to work around].  With focal damage, when most other capacities are still relatively functional, it is more likely to be easier to work on the area that is 'singularly' affected, because there are some brain functions left relatively intact to compensate with.  The global difficulty (from a rebound and a 'soft' landing) basically leaves no functioning unaffected, so there are much more limited resources available intact anywhere in the brain to try to regain any functioning (extreme analogy: the difference between chronically forgetting where you put your keys and being fall-down drunk all the time; you can use other brain areas to train yourself to set up a way to store your keys in a place you can find them, if falling-down drunk there's nothing that you can focus on enough to do them well).  [Keep in mind, with my clarity here on the boards, this is after 14 1/2 years of working my ass off to get my writing to be usually coherent, losing many friends in the process from things not coming out right.]

I think Lucas cares quite a bit.

Yeah, it's a subject that means quite a bit to him.

Yes, QV, I do care quite a bit.  And yes, JU, it does mean a lot to me.  Thank you for recognizing that.  And it was enough of both of those for me to have devoted years of my life to gain the education to work with people who had similar injuries and spend years doing so.  Then it started to mean a great deal to me in a different way because it happened to me.  The combination of the two result in me being rather vocal about such things, both so people can potentially protect themselves better from the possibility of themselves having such an injury (or getting help if they do), and so they can understand what those with such injuries actually go through.

I found a GIF that made me laugh, so I shared in attempt to make others laugh. If you presume I had any other intention than that your wrong. If your offended I'm more than happy to not post another GIF of a dude falling.

I didn't presume you to have any other intention than to make others laugh.  [I don't think there is anyone on the boards who would deliberately do something malicious just for the hell of it.]  And others have given 'Like's to similar types of 'injury-based' JPGs and GIFs in the past, so there are other people on the boards that also feel such things are funny.  [Quite a lot the world over, actually, or such things would not get into GIFs and be circulated on the internet in the first place.]

And I'm not offended.  Yes, it triggered my PTSD, and I had to take extra anxiety meds to counter that, but that is my problem, not yours.  I have NO expectation or desire for people to censor their public behavior just to keep me (and other, less vocal, traumatic injury survivors) from being triggered.  I believe firmly in free speech.  I don't like everyone's 'speech', any more than I expect others to like any or all of mine.

But because it affected me so strongly, and because of what I know about the subject, and because I see what appears to be a lack of empathy in the world at large (to make 'injury humor' something that a great many people the world over appear to enjoy [Three Stooges anyone?]), I took the opportunity to try to educate people about what was actually going on in that particular GIF.  To share information with people that 'pratfalls' where there is the likelihood of others getting injured in ways that are likely to diminish their quality of life from that point on might not actually be funny.  If people choose not to take in the information or accept that, that is their choice.  I'm not here, writing all this, to change people's beliefs.  [Providing information is different from expecting other people to act on that information.]  I am here presenting people with some less commonly known information about events they may see.  How they react, and what they do with it - both with what I say, and to seeing similar events in the future - is their choice.


I think that's enough for me on this.  I've been having quite a rough time (I've been well past my capacity) since the power went out a couple weeks back and I had a suspected broken toe.  For my functioning alone I likely shouldn't have written anything in the first place.  Too bad the frontal lobes (self-monitoring of behavior) are the first thing to go when I'm past capacity.

[LucasM]

Quote from: LucasM on December 06, 2013, 10:45:46 PM in the Animated GIF thread
[[Previous spoilers removed except the first one, which was quoting what I'd said in what is now the post directly above this one.]]


Trying to keep my responses short and directly in response to what others wrote about my prior comments.  Still spoilering just because they aren't animated GIFs.  Added bold 'titles' so the new stuff could be found more easily.

The very next thing [[in the one and only spoiler in these Animated GIF-related posts]] is my comments from above that were quoted in the two [[posts]] below:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoilering this because this is on the verge(?) of hijacking the thread.  This is not a spoilered GIF.  This is discussing the 'falling down' GIF on the previous page, with my responding to some comments since.

One thing in his favor, it was a padded chair that gave way some, so not like he hit something solid like a table or hard floor.

Well... yes and no.  Because he didn't hit a hard object there will be less focal damage.  But he hit something soft with a rather severe rebound 'snap'.  Because of that, it means a few things.  It means that he actually suffered twice as many impacts overall (his brain slamming into his skull when he hit the chair, and then again when he stopped falling when his shoulder hits the floor).  That snapping back and forth then stopping at the floor means that the grinding of the brain on the inside of the skull, and the increased rotational forces (from the twisting of his head to the side on impact with the chair) would result in a much greater degree of scraping of the superficial layers of neurons in the brain [those responsible for the final correlation of information from deeper neuronal layers] and likely a greater degree of axonal tearing than if he just was hit one solid blow with its rebound.

The double impact from hitting the chair then stopping at the floor, plus the increased scraping and tearing would result in more difficulty doing, well, pretty much everything.  So if he'd hit something hard it would've been massive damage to a more focal area (with somewhat less damage to the area directly opposite of that area [contracoup], and less scraping of the brain in the skull).  Instead he's left with 'lesser' global damage.  Honestly, having had accidents that did each, I'd rather have the single focal area than the global damage [depending where the 'single focal area' was, some areas are virtually impossible to work around].  With focal damage, when most other capacities are still relatively functional, it is more likely to be easier to work on the area that is 'singularly' affected, because there are some brain functions left relatively intact to compensate with.  The global difficulty (from a rebound and a 'soft' landing) basically leaves no functioning unaffected, so there are much more limited resources available intact anywhere in the brain to try to regain any functioning (extreme analogy: the difference between chronically forgetting where you put your keys and being fall-down drunk all the time; you can use other brain areas to train yourself to set up a way to store your keys in a place you can find them, if falling-down drunk there's nothing that you can focus on enough to do them well).  [Keep in mind, with my clarity here on the boards, this is after 14 1/2 years of working my ass off to get my writing to be usually coherent, losing many friends in the process from things not coming out right.]

I think Lucas cares quite a bit.

Yeah, it's a subject that means quite a bit to him.

Yes, QV, I do care quite a bit.  And yes, JU, it does mean a lot to me.  Thank you for recognizing that.  And it was enough of both of those for me to have devoted years of my life to gain the education to work with people who had similar injuries and spend years doing so.  Then it started to mean a great deal to me in a different way because it happened to me.  The combination of the two result in me being rather vocal about such things, both so people can potentially protect themselves better from the possibility of themselves having such an injury (or getting help if they do), and so they can understand what those with such injuries actually go through.

I found a GIF that made me laugh, so I shared in attempt to make others laugh. If you presume I had any other intention than that your wrong. If your offended I'm more than happy to not post another GIF of a dude falling.

I didn't presume you to have any other intention than to make others laugh.  [I don't think there is anyone on the boards who would deliberately do something malicious just for the hell of it.]  And others have given 'Like's to similar types of 'injury-based' JPGs and GIFs in the past, so there are other people on the boards that also feel such things are funny.  [Quite a lot the world over, actually, or such things would not get into GIFs and be circulated on the internet in the first place.]

And I'm not offended.  Yes, it triggered my PTSD, and I had to take extra anxiety meds to counter that, but that is my problem, not yours.  I have NO expectation or desire for people to censor their public behavior just to keep me (and other, less vocal, traumatic injury survivors) from being triggered.  I believe firmly in free speech.  I don't like everyone's 'speech', any more than I expect others to like any or all of mine.

But because it affected me so strongly, and because of what I know about the subject, and because I see what appears to be a lack of empathy in the world at large (to make 'injury humor' something that a great many people the world over appear to enjoy [Three Stooges anyone?]), I took the opportunity to try to educate people about what was actually going on in that particular GIF.  To share information with people that 'pratfalls' where there is the likelihood of others getting injured in ways that are likely to diminish their quality of life from that point on might not actually be funny.  If people choose not to take in the information or accept that, that is their choice.  I'm not here, writing all this, to change people's beliefs.  [Providing information is different from expecting other people to act on that information.]  I am here presenting people with some less commonly known information about events they may see.  How they react, and what they do with it - both with what I say, and to seeing similar events in the future - is their choice.


I think that's enough for me on this.  I've been having quite a rough time (I've been well past my capacity) since the power went out a couple weeks back and I had a suspected broken toe.  For my functioning alone I likely shouldn't have written anything in the first place.  Too bad the frontal lobes (self-monitoring of behavior) are the first thing to go when I'm past capacity.

I had a stroke last year. That's a stroke STROKE for those of you who can't spell. I got treatment quickly and even took part in a charity walk afterwards. I also learned during my treatment that I have some brain damage from a "prior incident" that I was not even aware of, and I am on medication for the rest of my life. There have been jokes about stroke victims in MST3K and (I think) even last night. Guess what? I laughed at them: because they were not directed at me and because they were funny. Rifftrax and MST3K are about humor, and sometimes that infringes on territory I consider "mine" (disabilities, my English origins etc) , but it's all fair game because it's comedy and it's equal opportunity. EVERYONE gets their fair share, and I am DAMNED if I am going to rage quit this forum because someone hurt my feelings.

My response to Uncle Des' comments:
I am sorry about your stroke and past head injury.  I'm glad you got treatment quickly for the stroke, as it likely prevented potentially much worse condition for you later.  I hope the meds you are on help with whichever symptoms you ended up with from the combined stroke and head injury.

With what you said at the end of your post, nor would I "rage quit the forum because someone hurt my feelings".  Nor were my feelings hurt by what was posted by anyone on the subject if you read what I wrote.  [If you were just commenting in general and quoting my lengthy comments for context, rather than specifically addressing what I'd written, then 'nevermind'.  I am currently functioning at a very concrete level so since others had been directly responding to my statements, I assumed you were too.]

And what I was commenting on was an actual injury that had been filmed and was being played back for an apparent comedic effect, not verbal humor about an injury.  There is a massive difference.  I consider a video of someone clearly getting a head injury as a milder version of the same type of film that includes the Faces of Death series of DVDs that I became aware of about 15 years ago, and snuff films.  Both head injuries and death can devastate a life and the lives of all those related to or friends with the person involved (and, as the massive number of post-Iraq vet experiences have shown in the last few years, and as recent publicized experiences of retired football players demonstrate, the life devastation from head injuries can themselves often lead to suicide [I have mentioned before on the boards that for about the first five years after the third head injury there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't either wish that the accident had killed me or thought about 'finishing the job' (killing) myself]).  The context of the head injury ('pratfall' or 'being hit by a car bomb' or 'being in an auto accident') is irrelevant to the fact that I think actual head injuries are not funny.

I have, some will likely recall, made jokes about head and spinal injuries on the boards here, including jokes about my own, and I don't generally find them bothersome in RiffTrax or, previously, in MST3K.*  Although, granted, if the comments are based on inaccurate information, I don't find them funny, just as I don't find inaccurate jokes about any other subject that demonstrate an ignorance of that subject funny.  But not finding inaccurate brain injury jokes funny is more from my professional background than it is from having had three of them myself.

But seeing an actual injury occurring in a video?  Yes, that bothers me.  And, personally, I think seeing an actual injury taking place should not be seen as funny.  That's my opinion.  Others have different opinions.  If their thinking it is funny is from their not actually understanding what is happening in what they are seeing, then possibly my explaining what is going on may help.  If they understand what is going on and still think someone getting a possibly lifetime debilitating injury is funny, then that is their business.

Like I said: I only share information I think others may appreciate or learn from.  What they do with it is their choice.  [When I was a practicing therapist and doing this, I was once told I was, "giving away the farm".  That pissed me off, as educating people by itself is easily more effective than trying to do therapy with those ignorant of what is going on internally.]

* (re: accuracy in MST3K comment: I found the 'Brain Guys' song 'When I Held Your Brain in My Arms' absolutely hilarious because of the wonderful puns they made from the names for different brain areas.)

First of all I can empathize with you Lucas because I have a severe spinal injury/chronic pain and knowing how you feel about that brand of humor will make me think twice about posting that type a of GIF again because making you or any of my other friends on this forum feel bad or anxious is the last thing I want to do. Second I appreciate humor of all kinds and I really don't feel bad in any way about finding that GIF funny, I do, however, feel bad for making you feel anxious so I'm sorry for that.

Thank you for the empathy.  I'm sorry you've had spinal problems and chronic pain too.  It sucks, as you well know to have to think about how you are going to do most every action, or even inaction (such as having to consciously think "is my posture perfect?" every time one sits down).

If you find such GIFs funny, and others here clearly do also, go ahead and post them.  It is, as I said, my problem I react to them, not yours.  If you feel mixed about it even with my assurance, then you could do what Relaxing Dragon started for GIFs of car accidents (which I greatly appreciate): he spoilered them with 'car accident' as a label for the spoiler, to explain what was inside.  If you want to do that, that is fine, and I would personally appreciate it greatly.

But, honestly, while I appreciate the thought, out of the couple/few dozen people who post here, I think it would be mighty selfish of me to expect to get singled out for special treatment by others on the boards.  And a large part of me basically feels the same way about that that I do about the trend toward 'childproofing the country'.  [i.e. that childproofing the country goes WAY too far to potentially protect a small minority, while inconveniencing and 'dumbing down' many others.]


Of course, with this likely near the end of this discussion, I just now thought I probably should have moved the discussion to the thread linked to in my sig line with my first comment, as it would have fit there quite a bit more than this extended discussion in a GIF thread.

Sorry, Lembach, for hijacking the [[Animated GIF]] thread for the last couple pages.   If you'd like I can move all my posts from the last couple pages over to the Head Injury Info post linked in my sig line.  Just let me know.

[[He did request it, so I moved all my posts here.  Only adding the things in double brackets like this and removing spoiler functions.]]

[LucasM]

Quote from: LucasM on Today at 10:43:18 AM in the Animated GIF thread:

I will be moving all of my responses, including this, to the Head Injury thread starting now.  But this response will be here very temporarily as I will be transferring them in order so as to not get completely confused.  So with it lowest in the 'transfer queue' my response will remain here [[in the Animated GIF thread]] in the interim.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Trying to keep my responses short and directly in response to what others wrote about my prior comments.  Still spoilering just because they aren't animated GIFs.  Added bold 'titles' so the new stuff could be found more easily.

The very next thing is my comments from above that were quoted in the two below:

Spoilering this because this is on the verge(?) of hijacking the thread.  This is not a spoilered GIF.  This is discussing the 'falling down' GIF on the previous page, with my responding to some comments since.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One thing in his favor, it was a padded chair that gave way some, so not like he hit something solid like a table or hard floor.

Well... yes and no.  Because he didn't hit a hard object there will be less focal damage.  But he hit something soft with a rather severe rebound 'snap'.  Because of that, it means a few things.  It means that he actually suffered twice as many impacts overall (his brain slamming into his skull when he hit the chair, and then again when he stopped falling when his shoulder hits the floor).  That snapping back and forth then stopping at the floor means that the grinding of the brain on the inside of the skull, and the increased rotational forces (from the twisting of his head to the side on impact with the chair) would result in a much greater degree of scraping of the superficial layers of neurons in the brain [those responsible for the final correlation of information from deeper neuronal layers] and likely a greater degree of axonal tearing than if he just was hit one solid blow with its rebound.

The double impact from hitting the chair then stopping at the floor, plus the increased scraping and tearing would result in more difficulty doing, well, pretty much everything.  So if he'd hit something hard it would've been massive damage to a more focal area (with somewhat less damage to the area directly opposite of that area [contracoup], and less scraping of the brain in the skull).  Instead he's left with 'lesser' global damage.  Honestly, having had accidents that did each, I'd rather have the single focal area than the global damage [depending where the 'single focal area' was, some areas are virtually impossible to work around].  With focal damage, when most other capacities are still relatively functional, it is more likely to be easier to work on the area that is 'singularly' affected, because there are some brain functions left relatively intact to compensate with.  The global difficulty (from a rebound and a 'soft' landing) basically leaves no functioning unaffected, so there are much more limited resources available intact anywhere in the brain to try to regain any functioning (extreme analogy: the difference between chronically forgetting where you put your keys and being fall-down drunk all the time; you can use other brain areas to train yourself to set up a way to store your keys in a place you can find them, if falling-down drunk there's nothing that you can focus on enough to do them well).  [Keep in mind, with my clarity here on the boards, this is after 14 1/2 years of working my ass off to get my writing to be usually coherent, losing many friends in the process from things not coming out right.]

I think Lucas cares quite a bit.

Yeah, it's a subject that means quite a bit to him.

Yes, QV, I do care quite a bit.  And yes, JU, it does mean a lot to me.  Thank you for recognizing that.  And it was enough of both of those for me to have devoted years of my life to gain the education to work with people who had similar injuries and spend years doing so.  Then it started to mean a great deal to me in a different way because it happened to me.  The combination of the two result in me being rather vocal about such things, both so people can potentially protect themselves better from the possibility of themselves having such an injury (or getting help if they do), and so they can understand what those with such injuries actually go through.

I found a GIF that made me laugh, so I shared in attempt to make others laugh. If you presume I had any other intention than that your wrong. If your offended I'm more than happy to not post another GIF of a dude falling.

I didn't presume you to have any other intention than to make others laugh.  [I don't think there is anyone on the boards who would deliberately do something malicious just for the hell of it.]  And others have given 'Like's to similar types of 'injury-based' JPGs and GIFs in the past, so there are other people on the boards that also feel such things are funny.  [Quite a lot the world over, actually, or such things would not get into GIFs and be circulated on the internet in the first place.]

And I'm not offended.  Yes, it triggered my PTSD, and I had to take extra anxiety meds to counter that, but that is my problem, not yours.  I have NO expectation or desire for people to censor their public behavior just to keep me (and other, less vocal, traumatic injury survivors) from being triggered.  I believe firmly in free speech.  I don't like everyone's 'speech', any more than I expect others to like any or all of mine.

But because it affected me so strongly, and because of what I know about the subject, and because I see what appears to be a lack of empathy in the world at large (to make 'injury humor' something that a great many people the world over appear to enjoy [Three Stooges anyone?]), I took the opportunity to try to educate people about what was actually going on in that particular GIF.  To share information with people that 'pratfalls' where there is the likelihood of others getting injured in ways that are likely to diminish their quality of life from that point on might not actually be funny.  If people choose not to take in the information or accept that, that is their choice.  I'm not here, writing all this, to change people's beliefs.  [Providing information is different from expecting other people to act on that information.]  I am here presenting people with some less commonly known information about events they may see.  How they react, and what they do with it - both with what I say, and to seeing similar events in the future - is their choice.


I think that's enough for me on this.  I've been having quite a rough time (I've been well past my capacity) since the power went out a couple weeks back and I had a suspected broken toe.  For my functioning alone I likely shouldn't have written anything in the first place.  Too bad the frontal lobes (self-monitoring of behavior) are the first thing to go when I'm past capacity.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had a stroke last year. That's a stroke STROKE for those of you who can't spell. I got treatment quickly and even took part in a charity walk afterwards. I also learned during my treatment that I have some brain damage from a "prior incident" that I was not even aware of, and I am on medication for the rest of my life. There have been jokes about stroke victims in MST3K and (I think) even last night. Guess what? I laughed at them: because they were not directed at me and because they were funny. Rifftrax and MST3K are about humor, and sometimes that infringes on territory I consider "mine" (disabilities, my English origins etc) , but it's all fair game because it's comedy and it's equal opportunity. EVERYONE gets their fair share, and I am DAMNED if I am going to rage quit this forum because someone hurt my feelings.

My response to Uncle Des' comments:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I am sorry about your stroke and past head injury.  I'm glad you got treatment quickly for the stroke, as it likely prevented potentially much worse condition for you later.  I hope the meds you are on help with whichever symptoms you ended up with from the combined stroke and head injury.

With what you said at the end of your post, nor would I "rage quit the forum because someone hurt my feelings".  Nor were my feelings hurt by what was posted by anyone on the subject if you read what I wrote.  [If you were just commenting in general and quoting my lengthy comments for context, rather than specifically addressing what I'd written, then 'nevermind'.  I am currently functioning at a very concrete level so since others had been directly responding to my statements, I assumed you were too.]

And what I was commenting on was an actual injury that had been filmed and was being played back for an apparent comedic effect, not verbal humor about an injury.  There is a massive difference.  I consider a video of someone clearly getting a head injury as a milder version of the same type of film that includes the Faces of Death series of DVDs that I became aware of about 15 years ago, and snuff films.  Both head injuries and death can devastate a life and the lives of all those related to or friends with the person involved (and, as the massive number of post-Iraq vet experiences have shown in the last few years, and as recent publicized experiences of retired football players demonstrate, the life devastation from head injuries can themselves often lead to suicide [I have mentioned before on the boards that for about the first five years after the third head injury there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't either wish that the accident had killed me or thought about 'finishing the job' (killing) myself]).  The context of the head injury ('pratfall' or 'being hit by a car bomb' or 'being in an auto accident') is irrelevant to the fact that I think actual head injuries are not funny.

I have, some will likely recall, made jokes about head and spinal injuries on the boards here, including jokes about my own, and I don't generally find them bothersome in RiffTrax or, previously, in MST3K.*  [Although, granted, if the comments are based on inaccurate information, I don't find them funny (just as I don't find inaccurate jokes about any other subject that demonstrate an ignorance of that subject funny).  But not finding inaccurate brain injury jokes funny is as much or more from my professional background as it is from having had three of them myself.]

But seeing an actual injury occurring in a video?  Yes, that bothers me.  And, personally, I think seeing an actual injury taking place should not be seen as funny.  That's my opinion.  Others have different opinions.  If their thinking it is funny is from their not actually understanding what is happening in what they are seeing, then possibly my explaining what is going on may help.  If they understand what is going on and still think someone getting a possibly lifetime debilitating injury is funny, then that is their business.

Like I said: I only share information I think others may appreciate or learn from.  What they do with it is their choice.  [When I was a practicing therapist and doing this, I was once told I was, "giving away the farm".  That pissed me off, as educating people by itself is easily more effective than trying to do therapy with those ignorant of what is going on internally.]

* (re: accuracy in MST3K comment: I found the 'Brain Guys' song 'When I Held Your Brain in My Arms' absolutely hilarious because it was basically accurate.)

First of all I can empathize with you Lucas because I have a severe spinal injury/chronic pain and knowing how you feel about that brand of humor will make me think twice about posting that type a of GIF again because making you or any of my other friends on this forum feel bad or anxious is the last thing I want to do. Second I appreciate humor of all kinds and I really don't feel bad in any way about finding that GIF funny, I do, however, feel bad for making you feel anxious so I'm sorry for that.

spoilered my response to d00hickey to take up less visual room with the whole post:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thank you for the empathy.  I'm sorry you've had spinal problems and chronic pain too.  It sucks, as you well know to have to think about how you are going to do most every action, or even inaction (such as having to consciously think "is my posture perfect?" every time one sits down).

If you find such GIFs funny, and others here clearly do also, go ahead and post them.  It is, as I said, my problem I react to them, not yours.  If you feel mixed about it even with my assurance, then you could do what Relaxing Dragon started for GIFs of car accidents (which I greatly appreciate): he spoilered them with 'car accident' as a label for the spoiler, to explain what was inside.  If you want to do that, that is fine, and I would personally appreciate it greatly.

But, honestly, while I appreciate the thought, out of the couple/few dozen people who post here, I think it would be mighty selfish of me to expect to get singled out for special treatment by others on the boards.  And a large part of me basically feels the same way about that that I do about the trend toward 'childproofing the country'.  [i.e. that childproofing the country goes WAY too far to potentially protect a small minority, while inconveniencing (and 'dumbing down' many others).]

Of course, with this likely near the end of this discussion, I just now thought I probably should have moved the discussion to the thread linked to in my sig line with my first comment, as it would have fit there quite a bit more than this extended discussion in a GIF thread.

Sorry, Lembach, for hijacking the thread for the last couple pages.   If you'd like I can move all my posts from the last couple pages over to the Head Injury Info post linked in my sig line.  Just let me know.

Lucas: I see your new point, and IF any of the impacts actually resulted in brain damage then it is sick to mock it, but we will never know for sure. I am from the country that invented "happy slapping" (physical assault) and am sickened to see how this has evolved into the "knockout" GAME (game???!!) which by definition intends to cause severe brain injury.

What provoked the guy going down the escalator to do the stupid and reckless things he did resulting in some level of injury to himself and possibly harming others comes under "serves you right", and is the reason I made the evolution comment.

On another note about PTSD treatment:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130605-the-ecstasy-and-the-agony

For clarification: all my comments were about the person trying to look 'cool' and his foot slipping off of an office chair which slid out from under him, with him subsequently hitting his head on the chair his foot was originally intended to go on (that GIF showed two clear concussions), not the escalator (which didn't show a clear head injury).  [The one comment I had on the escalator I'd actually deleted before the chair GIF showed up, as I realized my comment on being triggered by it were too 'me-specific'.]

Very disturbed to hear of the 'knockout game'.  Christ, if only people had some clue about what this will do to their capacity to enjoy their life for the rest of their life.   [[Hence my taking all the opportunities I can - such as this animated GIF - to educate people about these things.]]

Thank you for the interesting link to PTSD treatment.  There is a book from the 1960s that I read in my teens LSD Psychotherapy that had phenomenal results in trial after trial with using an extended psychotherapy session under the influence of LSD for treatment for childhood-originated PTSD which led to alcoholism and other self-destructive paths.  In one documentary film on LSD I saw in just the last couple years I was amazed and fascinated to see that there were actually film clips from some of those extended therapy sessions and that the documentary even mentioned those studies.  Both the improvement rate and the low recidivism rates were - dare I say - mind-blowing.  [I believe it took one or two sessions for lifetime alcoholics to stop and never desire to drink again with that treatment.]  Of course, then people started to use LSD recreationally to expand their thinking for themselves and the government, of course , had to stop that.

[LucasM]

Addition While Moving The Above Post(s) Here From the Animated GIF Thread:

Some people may have felt the following comment of mine in the post above (quoted and spoilered in the one directly above this one) to be hyperbole:  "I consider a video of someone clearly getting a head injury as a milder version of the same type of film that includes the Faces of Death series of DVDs that I became aware of about 15 years ago, and snuff films."  It was not, and is not, hyperbole.

The truth is, with someone dying a family can grieve and, ultimately, basically finish grieving and 'dealing with' the loss of the deceased.  With a head injury a person's personality and capacity to function is changed, most often forever (though there may be some improvement with time).  [I used to be rather reserved and didn't share my opinions on things very often except with close friends.  Compare that to my extensive writings here on the forum.  That alone is a rather significant personality change.]

Because those with head injuries are changed forever, people who have known them for many years often have a difficult time ever stopping the grieving process, because they are so used to the - for instance - 'old LucasM'.  The new, head injured and different post-head-injury person is simply not the same person they were the instant before the injury.  To my parents I am not the same child they raised.  To my brother I am not the same person he grew up with.  To my friends, I am not the same person I was from my teens to just before my head injury.  I have a couple letters from friends written about my changes (written for the sake of Social Security disability hearings).  They were difficult for me to read when they wrote them, and they still are, because they so clearly describe the 'old me' that *I* have lost, and I still find myself at times having to grieve afresh for the 'old me' that is dead...  dead, while I - a new me with different personality and capacities - still continue.

There was a patient I worked with during a student internship.  He was about 18 years old.  During his graduation party he was beaten severely (for 'fun' by other party attendees).  He could no longer speak or write, he could not walk or get around on his own, and he was in such pain - not from his physical injuries, but from his central nervous system being so damaged - that he spent nearly all day, every day, screaming in pain.  [He was kept isolated in a nearly-soundproof room at the hospital while I was there.]  His parents would have to deal with and process that every time they saw him for the rest of his life.  Now: ANYBODY tell me that his parents would not ultimately feel 'better' or get over his injury easier if he had died.  To have to see their son unable to go to college as he had planned, unable to date, to marry, to have FUN ever again, and to be in screaming-level of pain and unable to communicate about it to anyone...  tell me that that is not something that belongs on the same continuum as Faces of Death DVDs or snuff films for 'severity of experience'.

Those with 'mild' head injuries [based on the criteria used for them, all three of mine were considered 'mild'] most often have to change the way they do many of the tasks that they used to do automatically.  For instance: when I am extremely mentally tired I have to consciously think of which muscles I have to move to get myself to walk up the few stairs between the levels of my split-level home (anyone here have to consciously think about having to tighten and then release their quadriceps to lift their leg to get it up to a step?).  I'm not even sure that level of awareness was necessary when I first learned to walk.  I have to set myself a very specific routine for sleeping (until I wake on my own) and eating (at specified times) or my functioning for every daily task gets even more impaired than it is at my 'ideal' remaining functioning.  Though my organizational skill kicks in after a bit, any sudden change since my head injuries - big or small - is met with near-panic because my resources are daily stretched so thin that any change at all in my expected routine can be devastating.

These things are true of virtually everyone who has had a significant 'mild' head injury.  Not just me.

So my putting a video of someone clearly sustaining a head injury [any time a head suddenly accelerates or suddenly decelerates] on the same continuum as the Faces of Death series of DVDs and snuff films I do not feel is a big stretch.  All are life-changing events that have often devastating ripples outward to everyone who knew the person who either died or sustained a head injury.  And the ripples from the head injured generally remain for the rest of the person's life, affecting them, and all around them, the entire time.  A death is 'over'.  And, because we as a species are aware of our mortality, death is expected at some point; an instantaneous, significant change in personality or change in ability to function on a daily basis, is not.

I hope that helps clarify the comment that I suspect some people reading it may have rolled their eyes at or dismissed off-handedly.

[LucasM]

One additional thing I forgot to add regarding the original GIF:

Because the person in it intended his weight to stop at the chair, the physics involved means that he hit his head harder on the way down than if he had just tripped and fallen.  (e.g. because the foot was to stop higher than one raises one's foot while running, and he expected a majority of his weight to stop there, the impact would be more than the difference in impact to a foot hitting the ground between walking and running)  All of that additional force was transmitted to his brain on impact with the chair.

[Bob]

Heck, breaking my head and brain two years ago made me Il Duce faster.

So there is that possibility.

[LucasM]

Well, apparently it's Brain Injury Awareness Week (I wasn't aware of that before now ).  So I'll share a little something here to add to what has already been discussed.

From Dr. Amen's Blog.  Dr. Amen is a psychiatrist who uses brain imaging to help discern where people's problems lie ('pure' psychiatric ones like depression, as well as head injury related ones).

[The title is a link to the blog page containing the following:]

Even Non-Concussion Head Injuries Are Bad News for Brains
Posted on March 13, 2014 by Amen Clinics   

Calling all mothers of young sports enthusiasts!  Please take note:  Repeated blows to the head – even without concussion – can cause brain injuries that negatively affect learning, memory, and mood.

A study published last year found differences in the integrity of white matter – which plays an important role in the speed of signals sent between neurons – within the brains of contact sport athletes, compared to non-contact sport athletes after just one season of college-level play.

The study involved 80 concussion-free varsity football and ice hockey players who wore accelerometers in their helmets, recording the number and force of blows to the head during all practices and games.  Any player that sustained a concussion was removed from the study.  The contact athletes were compared to 79 non-contact athletes involved in sports such as track, crew, and Nordic skiing.

Before and after the season, each athlete was tested for verbal learning and memory in addition to receiving an MRI brain scan, which measured the integrity of white matter in the brain.  Author of the study, Dr. Thomas McAllister, stated the following about his findings:

“The degree of white matter change in the contact sport athletes was greater in those who performed more poorly than expected on tests of memory and learning, suggesting a possible link in some athletes between how hard/often they are hit, white matter changes, and cognition, or memory and thinking abilities.”

[LucasM]

Superb demonstration of just how impacts - even small ones - affect the brain:

Thanks for finding this, RVR II!

EDIT:  I've now added it to the body of the first post in this thread, so that it has it's 'impact' where it is most helpful in the description of head injuries.

[RVR II]

I have a headache for some reason naow

[LucasM]

I have a headache for some reason naow

Yeah... that should help people grasp just how fragile the brain actually is.  And allow them to visualize what happens with even minor 'bumps' such as the one in the GIF discussed on the previous page (person slipping and hitting head on chair).  With the slow movement of the skull, that, right there, is roughly a 'header' in soccer, and is most certainly less than any contact in football.

That visual is superb at getting across just how easily damaged a brain is, and, hopefully, will help prompt people to think about what they are doing and protect themselves from such impacts... and protect their kids by not allowing them to play any contact sports.  [Anyone interested in the effects of contact sports should see the film 'Concussion', just recently released.]