It truly is estimated that more than 1 million adults within the UK are presently living with all the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Rates of ABI have elevated significantly in current years, with estimated increases more than ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This boost is as a consequence of a range of elements which includes improved emergency response following injury (Powell, 2004); much more cyclists interacting with heavier traffic flow; elevated participation in hazardous 
sports; and bigger numbers of very old individuals within the population. In accordance with Nice (2014), the most typical causes of ABI inside the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road traffic accidents (circa 25 per cent), although the latter category accounts for a CEP-37440 web disproportionate number of additional extreme brain injuries; other causes of ABI involve sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is extra popular amongst guys than females and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and more than eighty (Nice, 2014). International information show equivalent patterns. One example is, inside the USA, the Centre for Illness Handle estimates that ABI affects 1.7 million Americans each and every year; kids aged from birth to four, older teenagers and adults aged more than sixty-five possess the highest rates of ABI, with guys extra susceptible than women across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury in the Usa: Truth Sheet, readily available on the internet at www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is certainly also growing awareness and concern within the USA about ABI amongst military personnel (see, e.g. Okie, 2005), with ABI prices reported to exceed onefifth of combatants (Okie, 2005; Terrio et al., 2009). While this short article will concentrate on existing UK policy and practice, the problems which it highlights are relevant to quite a few national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Operate and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. A lot of people make a great recovery from their brain injury, whilst other individuals are left with important ongoing issues. Moreover, as Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury isn’t a trustworthy indicator of long-term problems’. The prospective impacts of ABI are well described both in (non-social work) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in individual accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). Having said that, provided the limited interest to ABI in social operate literature, it really is worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing a few of the widespread after-effects: physical issues, cognitive difficulties, impairment of executive functioning, changes to a person’s behaviour and changes to emotional regulation and `personality’. For many individuals with ABI, there might be no physical indicators of impairment, but some may perhaps experience a selection of physical troubles like `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches being particularly typical after cognitive activity. ABI may possibly also bring about cognitive troubles including problems with journal.pone.0169185 memory and reduced speed of data processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive aspects of ABI, whilst challenging for the individual concerned, are relatively simple for social workers and other folks to conceptuali.