Awareness of Deficit After Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues - Hardcover

Prigatano, George P.; Schacter, Daniel L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195059417 ISBN 13: 9780195059410

Publisher: Oxford University Press USA, 1991

Synopsis

This volume provides, for the first time, multidisciplinary perspectives on the problem of awareness of deficits following brain injury. Such deficits may involve perception, attention, memory, language, or motor functions, and they can seriously disrupt an individual's ability to function. However, some brain-damaged patients are entirely unaware of the existence or severity of their deficits, even when they are easily noticed by others. In addressing these topics, contributors cover the entire range of neuropsychological syndromes in which problems with awareness of deficit are observed: hemiplegia and hemianopia, amnesia, aphasia, traumatic head injury, dementia, and others. On the clinical side, leading researchers delineate the implications of awareness of deficits for rehabilitation and patient management, and the role of defense mechanisms such as denial. Theoretical discussions focus on the importance of awareness disturbances for better understanding such cognitive processes as attention, consciousness, and monitoring.

About this title

Review:

...interesting book...Any neurologist who is closely involved in the continuing management of patients who have suffered a stroke or head injury should read this book. It will stimulate thought about the experience of our patients and will thereby help us understand their bizarre experiences. (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry)

The scope is extremely wide ranging ... The reviews have been written by some of the leading authorities in various fields and and enormous body of literature has been covered succinctly, in a very readblae form. The chapters are clearly laid out and each follows a similar format covering anatomical issues, a review of the literature for the particular form of anosognosia and a discussion of the theoretical issues raised. (Dr Nigel North, Odstock Hospital, Salisbury, International Journal of Rehabilitation Research 15 (1992))

For those of us who rehabilitate people with brain injuries, I consider this book a landmark event. It is probably one of the most important teaching tools for any member of the rehabilitation team. This book should be read by all who deal with these patients/clients; there is new knowledge to be found in this text even for the most sophisticated among us. (Henry H. Stonnington, Brain Injury, 1993, Vol. 7, No. 1)

From the Back Cover:

The editors of this volume shared a common interest in exploring what they felt was an important clinical and theoretical phenomenon: altered awareness after brain injury. Clinical experience indicated that brain-injured patients are often unaware of the very deficits that impair their performance in everyday life. This book explores these issues in hopes that the information obtained from studying disorders of self-awareness will ultimately lead not only to greater scientific insights into the nature of disturbed awareness following injury, but also to improved rehabilitation of patients with brain dysfunctions.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0195059417
• ISBN 13: 9780195059410
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 286