Essential Neuropsychology A Concise Handbook For Adult Practitioners

The goal of this book is to provide brief-but-comprehensive information that can aid in rapid differential diagnosis and allow for more thorough follow-up if needed. This guide is intended to fit easily into the pocket of a lab coat or on your desk, giving readers an efficient way to find information about a specific disease or disorder to prepare for an upcoming case. The book is divided into two parts: Part 1 involves general psychometric and reference information including score classifications, formulas for score conversion, likelihood chaining, and reliable change, psychometric data for stand-alone and embedded PVTs, and the effects of common medications on cognition. Part 2 of the book is organized alphabetically by disease or disorder to promote quick searching, and each chapter provides straightforward information including definitions, subtypes, etiology, epidemiology, course, diagnostic criteria, expectations for test results, and links to more comprehensive sources. Whenever possible, information is gathered through up-to-date literature and high quality pubilcations such as systematic reviews or meta-analyses. Helpful references are provided for more extensive follow-up or further reading.

From translating the patient’s medical records and test results to providing recommendations, the neuropsychological evaluation incorporates the science and practice of neuropsychology, neurology, and psychological sciences. The Little Black Book of Neuropsychology brings the practice and study of neuropsychology into concise step-by-step focus—without skimping on scientific quality. This one-of-a-kind assessment reference complements standard textbooks by outlining signs, symptoms, and complaints according to neuropsychological domain (such as memory, language, or executive function), with descriptions of possible deficits involved, inpatient and outpatient assessment methods, and possible etiologies. Additional chapters offer a more traditional approach to evaluation, discussing specific neurological disorders and diseases in terms of their clinical features, neuroanatomical correlates, and assessment and treatment considerations. Chapters in psychometrics provide for initial understanding of brain-behavior interpretation as well as more advanced principals for neuropsychology practice including new diagnostic concepts and analysis of change in performance over time. For the trainee, beginning clinician or seasoned expert, this user-friendly presentation incorporating ‘quick reference guides’ throughout which will add to the practice armentarium of beginning and seasoned clinicians alike. Key features of The Black Book of Neuropsychology: Concise framework for understanding the neuropsychological referral. Symptoms/syndromes presented in a handy outline format, with dozens of charts and tables. Review of basic neurobehavioral examination procedure. Attention to professional issues, including advances in psychometrics and diagnoses, including tables for reliable change for many commonly used tests. Special “Writing Reports like You Mean It” section and guidelines for answering referral questions. Includes appendices of practical information, including neuropsychological formulary. The Little Black Book of Neuropsychology is an indispensable resource for the range of practitioners and scientists interested in brain-behavior relationships. Particular emphasis is provided for trainees in neuropsychology and neuropsychologists. However, the easy to use format and concise presentation is likely to be of particular value to interns, residents, and fellows studying neurology, neurological surgery, psychiatry, and nurses. Finally, teachers of neuropsychological and neurological assessment may also find this book useful as a classroom text. "There is no other book in the field that covers the scope of material that is inside this comprehensive text. The work might be best summed up as being a clinical neuropsychology postdoctoral residency in a book, with the most up to date information available, so that it is also an indispensible book for practicing neuropsychologists in addition to students and residents...There is really no book like this available today. It skillfully brings together the most important foundationsof clinical neuropsychology with the 'nuts and bolts' of every facet of assessment. It also reminds the more weathered neuropsychologists among us of the essential value of neuropsychological assessment...the impact of the disease on the patient’s cognitive functioning and behavior may only be objectively quantified through a neuropsychological assessment." Arch Clin Neuropsychol (2011) first published online June 13, 2011 Read the full review acn.oxfordjournals.org

This concise neuropsychology assessment reference outlines signs, symptoms and complaints according to neuropsychological domain with descriptions of possible deficits involved, inpatient and outpatient assessment methods and possible etiologies.

With the emergence of clinical neuropsychology as one of the fastest growing specialties in psychology comes the need for current and future practitioners to stay abreast of the most recent research. A number of professional journals more than adequately meet this need. But, there is also a need to stay up to date on the current thinking about important problems. Drawing upon the expertise of leaders in the field, the editors' intent in this book was to provide the practitioner with a source for discussions of topics that are vital to their ongoing development as clinical neuropsychologists but that generally are not addressed in the literature to any great degree.

In the last few years, the field of neuropsychology and expertise in the disorders covered in this book have developed and evolved enormously. However, despite the publication of handbooks, textbooks, case-oriented descriptive works, and specialized publications on neuropsychology, the field has not yet produced a book in the model of a clinical handbook or manual. This publication fills the gap. Clinical Syndromes in Adult Neuropsychology is intended for both novice and experienced neuropsychologists who wish to have a reference work of this type to consult, particularly when seeing patients from an unfamiliar diagnostic category or when faced with an unusual of difficult differential diagnostic question. In addition, it is aimed at providing knowledge on clinical findings and the contribution of neuropsychological expertise to the care and manangement of neuropsychiatric patients for students in training, especially in the field of neuropsychology (graduate students, interns, postdoctoral fellows).The book is also informative to psychologists, neurologists, behavioral neurologists and psychiatrists by providing insight into the methods and diagnostic processes carried out by clinical neuropsychologists.

The field of clinical neuropsychology has grown substantially since the first edition of Essentials of Neuropsychological Assessment was published in 1987. While retaining much of its original structure, this new edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded. Chapter 5-- "The Neuropsychological Examination"--has been broken into three separate chapters that focus on specific neuropsychological batteries. And three new chapters on brain imaging, neuroanatomy, and cross-cultural issues in neuropsychology have been added. The resulting new edtion is a substantial expansion upon the earlier one. The book is written for recently-trained neuropsychology practitioners and PhD students in clinical psychology who are preparing for careers in neuropsychology. But it should also appeal to experienced clinicians who need a primer on neuropsychological assessment.

Neuropsychological assessment is a difficult and complicated process. Often, experienced clinicians as well as trainees and students gloss over fundamental problems or fail to consider potential sources of error. Since formal test data on the surface appear unambiguous and objective, they may fall into the habit of overemphasizing tests and their scores and underemphasizing all the factors that affect the validity, reliability, and interpretability of test data. But interpretation is far from straightforward, and a pragmatic application of assessment results requires attention to a multitude of issues. This long-awaited, updated, and greatly expanded second edition of the Clinician's Guide to Neuropsychological Assessment, like the first, focuses on the clinical practice of neuropsychology. Orienting readers to the entire multitude of issues, it guides them step by step through evaluation and helps them avoid common misconceptions, mistakes, and methodological pitfalls. It is divided into three sections: fundamental elements of the assessment process; special issues, settings, and populations; and new approaches and methodologies. The authors, all of whom are actively engaged in the clinical practice of neuropsychological assessment, as well as in teaching and research, do an outstanding job of integrating the academic and the practical. The Clinician's Guide to Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition will be welcomed as a text for graduate courses but also as an invaluable hands-on handbook for interns, postdoctoral fellows, and experienced neuropsychologists alike. No other book offers its combination of breadth across batteries and approaches, depth, and practicality.

The author has written an easily accessible summary of neuropsychological tests, neuropsychiatric disorders, and the relationships of test performance to disorder and treatment strategy. This ready reference provides neuropsychologists with an understanding of the medical context within which neuropsychological evaluation and psychosocial therapy takes place.