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

 
9780195059410: Awareness of Deficit after Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues

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.

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About the Author

George P. Prigatano is at Barrow Neurological Institute. Daniel L. Schacter is at Harvard University.

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.

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