Obsessional disorders during recovery from severe head injury: report of four cases.

Four cases of transient obsessional disorders following severe head injury are described within the context of recovery from acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). Obsessional features following TBI have important treatment implications in brain injury rehabilitation settings, since emergence of this disorder in the acutely brain injured patient poses a significant obstacle to interdisciplinary rehabilitation. Although the numbers of patients described here and in previous reports are too small to draw conclusions about the incidence of obsessional disorders following TBI, these cases illustrate the importance of correctly identifying and treating obsessional symptoms in the brain injured patient.