Concrete Thinking After Brain Injury

Concrete thinking - Cartoon character with picture of box in thought bubble

Concrete thinking is a descriptive term for this kind of thinking. Factual. What you see in front of you is what you understand. You take what is said to you, as it is said.

Concrete thinking – being less able to generalise. Less able to think in the abstract. A person is likely to see and take things as said. Thinking about information and understanding information in a “concrete” way; taking things literally.

 

 

 

What Would Concrete Thinking Look Like

As with many cognitive (thinking) outcomes; concrete thinking can be difficult to understand, and to accept as a result of damage to the brain.

You might see the following:

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    • Taking things literally.  “Hop over here” would see you doing just that – hopping.

 

    • Difficulty understanding abstract language such as metaphors, proverbs, humour and sarcasm. Proverbs are good examples of how concrete thinking can occur. Proverbs need you to be able to interpret the meaning, it requires abstract thinking. – “make hay while the sun shines” would see a person thinking you can only make hay during sunlight hours. Not understanding the abstract meaning to take advantage of opportunity when it arises.

 

    • There may only be the “here and now”. Not being able to think beyond the things right in front of you.

 

    • Not being able to see similarities in things, or situations. Not being able to see similarities and differences between groups of things e.g. not grouping a cat, dog and lion as animals. Maybe seeing they all have tails or other common features.

 

    • Relevant information may be ignored or not thought of because it is not obvious, or cannot be seen. Not understanding you cannot keep spending on EBay because you do not see cash or money transactions.

 

    • Not being able to continue abstract pursuits such as artistic interests that rely on abstract thought.

 

  • Difficulty generalising learning – learning cooking skills at a rehabilitation centre but then finding you need to learn all over again at home.

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More About Concrete Thinking After Brain Injury:

I am highlighting the following article to bring it to your attention. The article about concrete thinking is focussed on people living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) yet it is highly relevant to other types of brain injury. Oh and Yes FASD causes brain injury.

This article ‘5 Stepping Stones to Navigate Through Concrete Thinking’ by Jodee Kulp gives great examples of concrete thinking in real life with some practical strategies.

 

[button link=”http://jodeekulp.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/5-stepping-stones-to-navigate-through.html?m=1″ size=”large” style=”info” color=”silver” text=”dark” window=”yes”] ‘5 Stepping Stones to Navigate Through Concrete Thinking’ [/button]

 

Here is an a real life example of concrete thinking from‘5 Stepping Stones to Navigate Through Concrete Thinking’:

“Emotions are like waves, you simply ride them up and ride them down,” said the therapist, and she repeated her statement three times for additional understanding, moving her hand up and down like a wave and finally finishing with “You ride it up and down.”
In the car, I always encourage playback of what happened in the session and work through additional understanding.
“You know what I don’t get?” my daughter asked.
“What?”
“How come she wanted me to get in a wagon and ride up and down.”
I translated what the therapist was trying to explain and how emotions can be loud or calm, big or small, and we talked together about examples of loud emotions and calm emotions and when they happen and how they change. Then we talked about what the waves in an ocean are like – we live in Minnesota – and how they work.

 

Concrete thinking - two thought bubbles one with exclamation mark, one with the word Tip

 

Tips and Suggestions for Concrete Thinking

 

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    • Remember it is not stubbornness, nor any other deliberate act – it is damage to the brain that causes this change in understanding.

 

    • Speak in clear, simple, concrete terms especially when giving instructions.  Here is another example from ‘5 Stepping Stones to Navigate Through Concrete Thinking’ –  “My daughter states this clearly, “Don’t use mostly, sometimes, maybe, soon, fast—I don’t do that—I do yes and no, I do Tuesday at 3:00, I do give me ten minutes of quiet time, I do it will be finished at 5:00 pm”.

 

    • If what you say is misinterpreted – go over what you said – was it concrete and clear?

 

    • Try not to use abstract terms, proverbs, slang sayings. If you do make sure these are explained.

 

    • Take care with jokes. Jokes, unless specific, such as slapstick often require interpretation. They are not specific.

 

    • Understand that humour or jokes may not be understood and may need more concrete explanation.

 

    • Gently and persistently continue to give the information that needs to be considered in decisions or ideas.

 

    • Explain carefully and respectfully what is not understood.

 

    • Try using other forms such as pictures to illustrate points that are not understood.

 

    • Explain common slang and words that may be misinterpreted.

 

    • When talking with other people, suggest that they keep conversations concrete, and without ambiguous words. Taking care not to belittle.

 

    • Talk about information that is  needed to explain the abstract and all the possibilities. Repeat as often as necessary.

 

  • Read up on concrete thinking – get to understand concrete and abstract thinking. The more you understand the better you will be able to make sure your communication is respectful, positive and well understood.

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This tutorial: Concrete vs. Abstract Thinking has some useful strategies and explanation of both concrete and abstract thinking. While the article is focussed on children iT could be helpful to all. Project LearNet, is a site that has some great articles and information about brain injury.

 

All images here from Pixabay.com

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. brainfan

    This is interesting. I know I haven’t lost all of my capacity for abstract thought. I also think that I’m in a much better position than the child in your article: I had decades of learning and understanding metaphors, so using something like waves as an example is easily understood. But here’s what’s interesting: I’ve always seen images in various patterns like wallpaper designs, clouds, trees, etc. I remember seeing all sorts of shapes in ink blot tests. But when I had my neuropsych evaluation, I saw absolutely NOTHING in the ink blots. I tried using the same techniques that I had always used to see shapes in things, but I didn’t see anything in any of the blots. I suppose this might be another example?

    1. Melanie Atkins

      Wow BrainFan that must have been a puzzling experience to not see anything after previous experiences. It is hard to say what might be behind it – maybe changes in abstract thinking – maybe nerves?? Thankyou for sharing this. Another example of how extraordinary our brain is. Melanie

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