It can be estimated that more than 1 million adults inside the UK are presently living with all the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Rates of ABI have elevated significantly in current years, with estimated increases more than ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This boost is as a consequence of several different elements like improved emergency response following purchase TAPI-2 injury (Powell, 2004); a lot more cyclists interacting with heavier visitors flow; elevated participation in hazardous sports; and bigger numbers of extremely old individuals within the population. In line with Good (2014), the most frequent causes of ABI inside the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road traffic accidents (circa 25 per cent), although the latter category accounts to get a disproportionate number of additional severe brain injuries; other causes of ABI include sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is extra common amongst guys than females and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and more than eighty (Nice, 2014). International information show equivalent patterns. One example is, inside the USA, the Centre for Disease Handle estimates that ABI affects 1.7 million Americans each and every year; youngsters aged from birth to four, older teenagers and adults aged more than sixty-five possess the highest rates of ABI, with guys extra susceptible than women across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury within the Usa: Fact Sheet, readily available on the web at www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is also escalating awareness and concern within the USA about ABI amongst military personnel (see, e.g. Okie, 2005), with ABI rates reported to exceed onefifth of combatants (Okie, 2005; Terrio et al., 2009). While this article will concentrate on existing UK policy and practice, the problems which it highlights are relevant to quite a few national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Work and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. A lot of people make a great recovery from their brain injury, whilst other individuals are left with significant ongoing issues. Moreover, as Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury isn’t a trustworthy indicator of long-term problems’. The prospective impacts of ABI are well described each in (non-social function) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in individual accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). Having said that, provided the limited interest to ABI in social work literature, it really is worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing a few of the prevalent after-effects: physical issues, cognitive difficulties, impairment of executive functioning, modifications to a person’s behaviour and modifications to emotional regulation and `personality’. For many folks with ABI, there are going to be no physical indicators of impairment, but some may perhaps experience a array of physical troubles like `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches being particularly frequent following cognitive activity. ABI may well also bring about cognitive troubles for example issues with journal.pone.0169185 memory and reduced speed of data processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive aspects of ABI, whilst difficult for the individual concerned, are relatively straightforward for social workers and other folks to conceptuali.