After a stroke, why do the patient's emotions and behavior change?

After a stroke, many people experience frequent emotional and behavioral changes. This is because strokes affect the brain, which controls behavior and emotions. Everyone's stroke experience is different, but for many patients it feels like they have lost part of their life.

Anyone who has had a stroke will inevitably experience a variety of emotional and behavioral fluctuations as they try to adjust and accept the situation after the stroke. It is normal to feel shock, rejection, anger, sadness and guilt when you are facing major life changes.

Not infrequently, many people find it very difficult to control their emotional and behavioral changes after having a stroke. Especially if the patient does not know how to deal with it, these changes can certainly become extraordinary and cause new problems.

Why do patients' emotions and behavior change after a stroke?

Some of the patients admitted to experiencing various kinds of emotional problems after a stroke. Depression and anxiety are common problems that often occur after a stroke. As a result, some patients have difficulty controlling mood and emotions that can change suddenly or commonly known as emotionalism - emotional lability. This sometimes makes stroke patients irritable, suddenly cries, laughs and even gets angry for no apparent reason.

Whereas the way patients behave often depends on how they feel it. So if a person's emotions change after a stroke, their behavior tends to change too. But it's not just about the way they feel. Sometimes a stroke can also affect the way patients respond to what is happening around them.

For example, patients become more silent, feel indifferent or less interested in things they used to like, behave rudely, such as hitting and shouting. In addition, frustration at not being able to do something for themselves or being upset because they have difficulty communicating can also make them aggressive towards others.

Will the patient's emotional and behavioral problems be cured?

Generally patients will feel anxious, angry, upset, useless so that they will be more irritable and difficult to control their emotions, especially in the first six months after a stroke. However, over time, patients will begin to accept and begin to get used to the changes that occur within them. So, slowly their emotional problems and behavior will improve.

The improvement of the patient's emotional and behavioral problems cannot be separated from the role of family and close relatives who help in providing support. That is why, it is very important for patient nurses to never get bored in providing moral support and confidence to patients that their condition will recover over time.

In addition, as a nurse, don't forget to adapt to the conditions of the patients if they experience communication problems, memory problems, are slow to understand your meaning and so on.

Actually, the prediction of stroke healing depends on the type of stroke suffered and how widespread it is to the organs of the body. If the improvement of the patient's health through drugs and therapy shows a significant improvement, then the patient's chances of recovery are very large. But keep in mind, if the complete recovery after a stroke will take a long time.

Are there any therapies that can help?

Dealing with behavior change after stroke is more about learning how to control it, not cure it or "fix" it. Changes in the patient's behavior caused by emotional problems, such as depression or anxiety can be helped with medication or therapy.

Usually the doctor will be able to direct the patient to consult a psychologist so that they can see the cause and talk to the patient about the best way to treat it.

Typical treatments for patients include:

• Performing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a therapy that has the basic principles of how a person's thinking in certain situations can affect how they feel emotionally and physically, thereby changing their behavior. Emphasis on the cognitive or behavioral aspects of therapy may vary, depending on the patient's condition.
• Behavioral management strategies. For example, anger management training.
• In addition, patients can take anti-depressant drugs. While anti-depressants do not cure emotional problems, they can help relieve symptoms and make a patient's life more enjoyable. Not all anti-depressant drugs are effective or suitable for everyone because indeed the side effects they cause will vary for those who take them. So before consuming it, don't forget to consult a doctor first.