However, Dr. Bryant cautioned against informing troops who are currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan that they have a brain injury that will result in permanent change (N.Engl. J. Med. 2008;358:525-7).
“If troops … are informed about a postconcussive syndrome and persistent problems emerging from mild traumatic brain injury, a new syndrome could arise from the current conflict in which soldiers attribute a range of common stress reactions to the effects of brain injury. This could be damaging to morale and to the person's future mental health, because it could lead to the expectation of poor recovery.
“In contrast, the normalization of many of these reactions and the recognition that stress-related conditions can be managed with evidence-based strategies may minimize the unnecessary attribution of common stress reactions to pathology and facilitate resilience after mild traumatic brain injury.”