The location and severity of a brain injury may cause the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. The brain continues to develop until the late teens, helping injuries occurring in childhood to heal more rapidly. In major cases of brain injury the most serious results can be permanent disability, speech problems, mental handicaps, and worse, coma or death.

Strokes, abuse of drugs and alcohol, blows or bumps to the head are the leading causes of brain injuries. Neurologists, neurosurgeons, and psychiatrists provide medical care and rehabilitation for brain injured patients. Psychologists may also be involved in assessing the amount of brain damage and become engaged in the patient