Clinical and Neuropsychological Aspects of Closed Head Injury

by Richardson, John T. E.

• ISBN13: 9780863777516
• ISBN10: 0863777511
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-07
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

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

Acknowledgements	vii
Series preface	ix
Abbreviations	x
Definitions, epidemiology, and causes	1	(38)
Definitions	2	(14)
Epidemiology	16	(10)
Mortality	26	(4)
Causes	30	(6)
Overview	36	(3)
Mechanisms of structural pathology	39	(34)
Cerebral contusions	41	(8)
Diffuse axonal injury	49	(8)
Secondary brain damage	57	(12)
Overview	69	(4)
Retrograde amnesia and post-traumatic amnesia	73	(24)
Retrograde amnesia	74	(6)
Post-traumatic amnesia	80	(14)
Overview	94	(3)
Memory function	97	(28)
Memory function following minor closed head injury	98	(6)
Memory function following severe closed head injury	104	(19)
Overview	123	(2)
Congnition and language	125	(32)
Cognitive function	125	(14)
Verbal and nonverbal intelligence	139	(7)
Disorders of language	146	(9)
Overview	155	(2)
Subjective complaints and personality disorders	157	(32)
Postconcussional symptoms	157	(19)
Personality disorders	176	(5)
Family relationships	181	(5)
Overview	186	(3)
Outcome, recovery, and rehabilitation	189	(44)
Measures of outcome	189	(15)
Recovery of function	204	(12)
The process of recovery	216	(5)
Rehabilitation	221	(10)
Overview	231	(2)
References	233	(46)
Author index	279	(9)
Subject index	288