Neuropsychological Rehabilitation After Brain Injury

For people with disabilities caused by nonprogressive brain injury, challenges in everyday living can be multifaceted and overwhelming. This book presents key principles of holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation, helping practitioners stay on track through complex terrain. Leading authorities Barbara A. Wilson and Shai Betteridge provide a framework for effective intervention based on a collaborative understanding of clients' strengths and needs. They describe essential strategies for assessing and remediating the impact of cognitive and psychosocial problems in everyday life. Detailed case examples illustrate the process of building partnerships with families, setting meaningful goals, developing skills and supports, and addressing emotional and mental health concerns. Innovative uses of technology are highlighted. Several reproducible clinical tools can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

The book aims to acknowledge the complexity of working with clients who have an acquired brain injury but aims to give the interested reader practical and useable guides to develop their practice. Throughout the text, case studies and practical suggestions are forwarded to facilitate do-able practice. It is hoped that the book will become a gold standard in this particular area and is aimed at a range of professionals in training (for those responsible providing training in psychopathology, neuropsychology and psychotherapy), and those who have an interest in working with the issues commonly seen post acute brain injury rehabilitation settings.

This thoroughly updated and extended edition covers the various cerebral visual disorders acquired after brain injury, as well as the rehabilitation techniques used to treat them. These are described within a brain plasticity framework, using data from single and group case studies along with follow up observation data. This original, tailor-made approach also includes the recording of eye movements for assessing scanning performance in scene perception and reading. The book gives a brief synopsis of the historical background on the subject, alongside an outline of intervention designs and methodological difficulties in the field, and goes on to discuss the mechanisms and processes that provide the foundations for recovery of function and successful adaptation in visually impaired patients. The author concludes by analyzing the importance of the procedures and outcomes of treatments to the reduction of patients’ visual handicaps. The new edition also contains an appendix with recommendations on the case histories, diagnostics and treatments. It is ideal reading for students in clinical neuropsychology, as well as professionals in the fields of neurology, visual neuroscience and rehabilitation experts.

This volume provides comprehensive international coverage of neuropsychological rehabilitation. It contains scientific discussions of dynamic brain changes (genetics, structure, physiology and hormones) plasticity of the central nervous system, functional reorganization and brain repair in response to treatment in all stages, and emphasizes acute care of early and precise diagnostics. It is intended for clinicians, professionals and students in neuropsychology, health psychology, rehabilitation, behavioral neurology, occupational and physical therapy.

This definitive work, the combined effort of 30 international contributors, provides in-depth discussion of neuropsychological rehabilitation, the consequences of brain injury, fundamentals of recovery, current rehabilitation models, and treatment. Remarkable in the depth of its content, this publication reveals the numerous changes that have occurred over the past decade and the new pathways open to treating TBI. Experts from the United States and Europe detail the consolidation of neuropsychological rehabilitation as an interdisciplinary field with strong clinical and applied roots. The material explores the foundations which support and direct treatment, and it combines those foundations with a vision of the current state of the most innovative methodologies (e.g., gene therapy, post-traumatic sleep disorder intervention, neural transplants).

Most individuals with brain damage experience a curtailment or loss of lifestyle without rehabilitation. Improved methods and appropriately timed medical interventions now make it possible for more individuals to survive brain insults and to be assisted by rehabilitation neuropsychologists in achieving renewed commitment to life. Damage to the brain -- the organ of human emotions and cognition -- reduces psychological functioning and realistic adaptation, and the patient and his/her family are often encapsulated in the time prior to injury. To regain part or most of the lifestyle lost, an honest, dedicated, and realistic approach is required. Neuropsychological rehabilitation can provide tools for this task, provided that the most comprehensive, elaborate and knowledge-based methods are integrated in the training, and provided that knowledge from many disciplines and from community environments and family is encompassed. In the present book knowledge representing the development of neuropsychological rehabilitation during the past five years is collected from a conference titled "Progress in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation." The chapters are written by professionals who were invited to share their experiences from different areas within the field because of their expertise with processes involved in neuropsychological rehabilitation. After a historical review, the chapters follow a visible sequence from biology to neuropsychology and neuropharmacology. Experts discuss the most advanced medical knowledge of the effect of injury on states of the organism. The second part of the book is dedicated to the outcome and the economics of rehabilitation as well as plans for the future. Finally, a panel discussion addresses the overall concept: Is rehabilitation worthwhile and ethical? The reactions -- influenced by the cross-cultural exchange of knowledge -- shed light on the essence and practice of today's neurorehabilitation.

This book brings together theoretical and clinical aspects of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. Following an introductory chapter and a brief history of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, there are chapters on specific cognitive deficits (attention, executive deficits, memory, and language). The next section addresses rehabilitation of emotional, social and behavioural disorders. Then comes a section on specific groups of people (children, people with dementia and people in reduced states of awareness. Although the main focus of the book is on adults with non-progressive brain injury, these other groups are included as NR is being increasingly employed with them. The book concludes with a chapter on systems of service delivery and another on the future of NR. Thus this book covers a number of aspects of NR and is broader in outlook than most existing books in this area. It presents current practice techniques in cognitive rehabilitation from a conceptual and theoretical perspective. It offers both clinicians and researchers a sense of the research and theory underlying current clinical applications. The main audience will be clinical neuropsychologists especially those working in rehabilitation. Other audiences include clinical psychologists working with people who have mental health problems, schizophrenia or are elderly; occupational therapists; speech and language therapists and rehabilitation doctors. It is likely that some social workers, nurses psychiatrists and neurologists will also want to read the book.