Effective Psychotherapy For Individuals With Brain Injury

Combining scientific expertise with psychotherapeutic acumen, this book is highly accessible and packed with clinical tools. Part I provides essential information on how acquired brain injury affects emotional functioning. Part II describes practical, specially tailored ways to treat anxiety, depression, and anger related to brain damage, and to help patients regain a sense of meaning and value in their lives. The book shows how standard psychotherapeutic interventions can be adapted for the brain-injured population, as well as which approaches may be contraindicated. It presents a biopsychosocial framework for assessment and treatment that integrates emotional support, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and acceptance- and mindfulness-based strategies.

This book presents hands-on tools for addressing the multiple ways that brain injury can affect psychological functioning and well-being. The author is a leader in the field who translates her extensive clinical experience into clear-cut yet flexible guidelines that therapists can adapt for different challenges and settings. With a focus on facilitating awareness, coping, competence, adjustment, and community reintegration, the book features helpful case examples and reproducible handouts and forms. It shows how to weave together individual psychotherapy, cognitive retraining, group and family work, psychoeducation, and life skills training, and how to build and maintain a collaborative therapeutic relationship.

The psychological impact of an acquired brain injury (ABI) can be devastating for both the person involved and their family. This book describes the different types of psychological therapies used to ameliorate psychological distress following ABI. Each chapter presents a new therapeutic approach by experts in the area. Readers will learn about the key principles and techniques of the therapy alongside its application to a specific case following ABI. In addition, readers will gain insight into which approach may be most beneficial to whom as well as those where there may be additional challenges. Covering a wide array of psychological therapies, samples range from more historically traditional approaches to those more recently developed. Psychological Therapies in Acquired Brain Injury will be of great interest to clinicians and researchers working in brain injury rehabilitation, as well as practitioners, researchers and students of psychology, neuropsychology and rehabilitation.

Despite the importance of the problem, strikingly little has been written about effective approaches to the treatment of individuals with mild to moderate brain injury. This book is designed for neuropsychologists, counseling and rehabilitation psychologists, and other rehabilitation professionals who work with individuals who have sustained brain injuries of mild to moderate severity. It provides a context for understanding and evaluating the common consequences of such injuries and offers both theoretical perspectives and practical suggestions for helping individuals to adjust to and compensate for residual difficulties. Early chapters focus on different domains of cognitive functioning, while later chapters describe clinical approaches to helping clients manage common emotional reactions such as depression, irritability, and anxiety. While the book acknowledges and discusses the controversy about the origins of persistent symptoms following mild brain injures, it does not focus on the controversy. Rather, it adopts a "what works" approach to dealing with individuals who have persistent symptoms and perceptions that contribute to disability and to emotional distress. Many of these individuals benefit significantly from neuropsychological intervention. Case examples throughout the book illustrate the adaptation of cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, and traditional psychotherapeutic approaches to individuals with mild to moderate brain injury. Self-regulation and self-management of both cognitive failures and emotional responses are described as appropriate and effective in this population.

"The present volume is a practical resource for clinicians who treat patients with brain injury and stroke in an individual, family, or group psychotherapy format. The challenge for the psychotherapist is to adapt traditional approaches to the specific needs of patients with brain injury, and this book enables clinicians to explore the challenges of psychotherapy with these patients, and focuses on recent developments in treatment applications and clinical approaches."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Addressing the critical issues in community re-entry in a very practical manner, this book is suitable for all members of a community re-entry or brain-injury rehabilitation team. Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Practical Vocational, Neuropsychological, and Psychotherapy Interventions provides innovative guidelines for allied health members of the traumatic brain injury rehabilitation team with information to help achieve more successful vocational and psychosocial outcomes. The book provides a very clear overview of critical components of neuropsychological information and the use of this information in vocational planning; examples of functional areas of cognition and neuropsychological assessment; the linkages between cognitive and behavioral impairments; the different categories of assistive technology; psychotherapy and behavioral interventions as well as successful vocational interventions; and, models of work access, including methods of supported employment, the development of a tailored job coaching program, and the specifics of utilizing natural supports. This book is useful to anyone involved in neurorehabilitation, vocational rehabilitation, rehab psychology, neuropsychology, and students in counseling programs or studying medical aspects of disability.

The permanent effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are not limited to the person who suffers the injury. People who care for the individual, particularly family members, suffer in various ways. Family members are often confused as to the behavioral and neuropsychological changes that they see in a brain-injured rela tive. They can become frustrated and angry when the individual does not return to premorbid levels of functioning. They can become tired and worn down from repeated problems in trying to manage the individual's difficulties while having only fragmented information regarding them. Drs. Smith and Godfrey have provided a useful service for family members by summarizing important neuropsychological changes associated with TBI and providing practical guidelines for coping with these problems. While the neuropsychological problems they describe are not completely understood, the authors provide a useful description of many of the neuro behavioral problems seen following TBI in young adults. They attempt to provide guidelines for family members that have practical utility in understanding and managing these patients. Theirs is a cognitive-behavioral approach that can have utility for this group of individuals. I applaud their efforts to provide something systematic and practical for family members.

It deals not only with traditional aspects of therapy with these challenging patients, but also with special problems that may arise, including aggression and impulsivity, alcohol and drug abuse, chronic pain, sex and relationships, and vocational and forensic issues.