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Clinical and Neuropsychological Aspects of Closed Head Injury

  • Price: $42.50 $38.25
  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Also available in Hardback
  • Published: October 2001
  • ISBN: 978-0-86377-752-3
  • Publisher: Psychology Press

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Part of the Brain Damage, Behaviour and Cognition series

In all industrialised countries, closed head injuries are responsible for vast numbers of hospital admissions and days of work lost. For instance, about 120,000 patients are admitted to hospital in the United Kingdom each year with a diagnosis that reflects closed head injury. Such injuries are a major cause of deaths following accidents, especially those that involve children and young people, and they are also a major cause of handicap and morbidity among the survivors.

This clinical condition is intrinsically a neurological one, but its proper evaluation demands an understanding of the associated psychology and psychopathology. At the same time, a major neurological condition with such a high level of incidence ought to be extremely informative about the functioning of the human brain and hence provide a major focus for neuropsychological investigation. In this book, the author seeks to integrate these two different perspectives by reviewing the clinical and neuropsychological aspects of closed head injury in a manner that is equally intelligible to researchers interested in the effects of brain damage upon human behaviour and to practitioners who are responsible for the assessment, management and rehabilitation of head-injured patients.

This is the second edition of a book which was first published in 1990, and which has been extensively revised in the light of the subsequent research in the field. The book begins by considering the epidemiology, causes and structural neuropathology of closed head injury. It then considers the impact of closed head injury on memory, cognition, language, communication, personality and social behaviour. Finally it outlines the outcome, the mechanisms of recovery and the prospects for rehabilitation.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. The Brain and Psychological Functioning. The Structure of the Brain. Methods in Neuropsychology. Lateralisation. Sensory and Motor Function. Language and the Brain. Visual Mechanisms and Perception. Three Research Reports. Study Aids. Glossary. References. Index.

Reviews

'The strengths of this book lie in its succinct and up-to-date coverage of the available research in this area. It is well written, easily accessible, and provides useful summaries to aid digestion of material. … This book will appeal to those working in either a neuropsychological research or clinical setting, and will be an invaluable addition to library resources.' - Pediatric Rehabilitation

'A useful reference to all members of the multidisciplinary team. It will be particularly useful to clinicians new to the area of head injury or to junior staff, providing a good introduction to the "bigger picture" as background to more focused reading on more specific topics. It would be appropriate to add this book to any unit as it will be of use to anyone working with patients with severe head injury at any stage from admission onwards.' - British Journal of Neurosurgery