Hey Shortwaivers, I want to give you a warning that today's episode includes some graphic descriptions of domestic violence.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Today we have NPR's brain

Today we have NPR's brain correspondent John Hamilton here to talk about how repeated head injuries can affect the brain. Right, and I'm not talking about the sort of injuries that occur in a boxing ring or a football field either.

My mom was hit a lot.

There was choking. There was a lot of shaking. So shoved against the wall, thrown against

appliances, dragged by her hair in the yard.

Maria E. Garai Serratos spoke with me about growing up in a household where her mother experienced repeated attacks that caused head injuries.

Who is the person responsible for all these attacks?

Maria's father.

Over the years and decades, those beatings caused serious brain damage in Maria's mother.

And that's not speculation it was

confirmed by an autopsy. But that's just one story. I have been reporting on

this sort of domestic violence or intimate partner of violence because it turns out it is a leading

cause of concussion or more severe traumatic brain injuries both in the U.S. and around the world.

And these injuries, they can lead to PTSD, memory loss, thinking problems, even

dementia. This is heartbreaking and the symptoms you just described are the sort of

things we've heard about in like contact sports or the military.

How widespread are traumatic brain injuries in domestic violence?

Well, they appear to affect more people than either people in sports or in the military.

The data isn't great on domestic violence,

in part because so many incidents go unreported.

You know, there's stigma.

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