Brain damage, as articulated by Iain McGilchrist, refers to an impairment of the brain's structure or function that disrupts the intricate, harmonious interplay between its hemispheres, leading to deficits in cognition, emotion, perception, or behavior. Such impairment might result from trauma, disease, or dysfunction, and it typically impairs the brain's capacity to integrate and balance its diverse functions. When specific regions of the brain are compromised, the holistic and contextual understanding often attributed to the right hemisphere may be overshadowed by the rule-based, narrowly focused processing of the left hemisphere, or vice versa. This disruption in the brain’s hemispheric dynamics can profoundly affect one’s ability to engage fully with the world, diminishing creativity, empathy, and the sense of connection that foster a rich, meaningful human experience.

See also: right hemisphere, left hemisphere, corpus callosum, split brain