Blog Post 7 - Guilt vs. remorse that comes with your brain injury

Guilt vs. remorse that comes with your brain injury

Just what exactly happened here? Is/was there anything that I could’ve done differently to avoid all of this?

The questions and guilt will continue to relentlessly pour in, and are, in my opinion, best left unanswered and unattended.

Any answers that you may have for them are unreliable, at times dishonest, and mostly wishful. These are the kinds of topics that are best discussed and dealt with by a psychologist therapist, not the fractured remains of your recovering brain.

Always remember, your capacity to process and understand incoming information and emotions has likely been impacted by your brain injury. The close relationship between your heart and brain may have been severed, or at best, lightly damaged. Which one can you trust now? Can you go with the bruised heart that no longer gets what it wants, and is likely heartbroken from the staggering amount of loss and devastation in your life now?

Or, should you trust the organ in your head that was tossed to and fro, damaged beyond belief, and operated upon by a team of medical staff? Based on this, as it recovers for however long after your injury, your brain will have distrustful thoughts and reach conclusions that are best left alone.

What do you do if you start to feel remorse towards yourself about the brain injury? Well, I guess that depends if the injury was self-inflicted or was your fault, both of which are likely not true, and are dangerous beliefs to have.