![North Carolina Governor's Working Group [NCGWG]](https://ncgwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NCGWG-Logo-1.png){kind=logo}
Recent research shows more evidence of a link between mild traumatic brain injury and mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder.
For the first time, a study of post-mortem brains of service members who were diagnosed with blast-related concussions found visible evidence of damage to the brain.
Researchers believe the unique scarring that the study found could account for the mental health conditions that are diagnosed more frequently among service members who have suffered mild TBIs or been exposed to blast concussions.
In other words, the “invisible wounds” – as TBI is frequently called – might not be invisible anymore.
“The more we look, the more we’re finding other subtleties and other kinds of changes in the brains of individuals who’ve been exposed to blast,” said Dr. Daniel Perl, one of the study’s researchers and a neuropathologist specializing in TBI and neurodegeneration at the Uniformed Services University (USU) of the Health Sciences in Maryland.
As a result, “we think there is a biology to this, that the exposure to blast can, in some people, produce damage to the brain, which leads to dysfunction and underlies some aspects of [mental health issues],” Perl said.