Ali: "a different person" after the accident

The case (fictional)

Ali is 23 and from Quetta. Six months ago he was thrown from his motorbike. A CT scan showed a contusion (bruising) in the frontal lobe; he was unconscious for "a few hours" and remembers nothing of the week after the accident. He was a final-year civil engineering student.

His family say he is "a different person". He loses his temper quickly, says rude things to elders, has spent large sums on his phone on impulse, loses track of conversations, is exhausted by noon and sleeps badly. He says he is "fine" and plans to return to university next month, and he becomes angry when his family disagree.

He has stopped seeing friends because "they talk too fast". He sometimes says that his life is ruined. Before the accident he was calm, hard-working and good at sport.

His mother is exhausted. His father believes Ali is being disrespectful and should be disciplined; an uncle says it is the evil eye. Ali has had sessions with a local physiotherapist, but this is his first neuropsychology appointment.