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I am the product of a mixed marriage. On my English side, I know much about my family antecedents; on the Zoroastrian side, very little. Only now, through taking a course on Zoroastrian culture and civilization, am I learning about this side of myself, culturally speaking, including a new-to-me concept, the marginal man. When one suffers a catastrophic brain injury that takes away one's identity and adversely affects family relationships, knowing one's history becomes crucial to recovering from brain injury grief and trauma.

I wrote about this in my book Brain Injury, Trauma, and Grief: How to Heal When You Are Alone, which contains Action Plans to help readers do the practical and thinking work of recovering from brain injury grief. One such plan encompasses getting to know your family history. The following is an adapted excerpt on this topic from my book.

Action Plan: Learn family history

Brain injury destructs your role in your family and friendships. Family history affects how you and your family members react to your injury.

A Snippet of My Family History

“[The] Japanese invaded Burma, causing [my father’s] entire family to flee to India in 1942—his father with the army overland and him, his pregnant mother, and maternal grandmother, along with a motley group of refugees, in a Dakota airplane flown by Chinese pilots. As they approached the........

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