A Yale research study published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience ponders if Henry VIII could have suffered from an NFL player-type concussion. The article brings back memories of the Showtime drama “The Tutors” a few years back (yes, I admit I watch television—I tried to convince my wife I was bulking up on European history and she didn’t buy it) which depicted Henry’s personality change following two hours of unconsciousness after a severe jousting fall.
Could the King have suffered from concussion or even chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)? The bizarre and violent behavior exhibited by the NFL player in the recent Will Smith movie “Concussion” kind of looks like the bizarre and violent behavior King Henry VIII exhibited by beheading two of his queens.
I stress to MAC interns that it’s very important to go over the survey on every visit and ask patients about anxiety and depression. In over 2,000 patients treated in the last five years, we’ve found that more than 25% exhibit immediate irritability as well as anxiety and depression two to four weeks or more post injury.
Luckily, long -term personality changes are very rare. We’ve only seen two patients that stated (with confirmation by clinical therapists) that they thought their personality changed long-term. As one husband told us, “My wife is not the same woman I married.” In another case the patient said, “My pastor was very concerned that my personality had changed and helped me seek out a good counselor for me to deal with the fact that I was no longer the person I used to be.”
Anxiety and Depression After Concussion
In our MAC Clinic, we hear some surprising and unexpected answers to our typical survey questions about irritability, sadness and depression following concussion. One nine-year-old admitted to cutting herself. A high school teen admitted to calling his girlfriend and saying that he wanted to kill himself. His girlfriend called the police to go to the house and they successfully intervened.
One high school football player admitted to taking a whole bottle of pills, stripping down to his underwear and jumping out into the snow. And an adult IT manager with no prior history of anxiety or depression started crying in front of my nursing staff during the triage and vital sign portion of his concussion visit. It took thirty minutes to calm him down.
We’ve seen three suicide attempts. Fortunately, all three patients survived and obtained excellent care and recovery from their concussions and their resulting anxiety/depression. In discussing with other physicians, we agree that the perception of the existence of post-concussive anxiety/depression is low. And, fortunately, post concussive anxiety and depression are very treatable. The critical key is to identify, diagnose and treat concussions promptly.
Maybe there is a common thread in high profile athletes that have taken their own lives. Those athletes with untreated long-term anxiety and depression who have suffered from repeated concussions (enough to get CTE) can well see the same sort of aggression, anxiety, hopelessness and even suicide. Maybe King Henry VIII was too much of a narcissist to commit suicide, but the desperation, aggression and hopelessness he felt did not fare too well for the queens he had beheaded.
