Clinical and Neuropsychological Aspects of Closed Head Injury

by Richardson, John T. E.

• ISBN13: 9780863777523
• ISBN10: 086377752X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-15
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

In all industrialized 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 headinjury in a manner that is equally intelligible to researchers interested in the effects of brain damage upon human behavior 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 behavior. Finally it outlines the outcome, the mechanisms of recovery and the prospects for rehabilitation.

Table of Contents

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