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Cover image of The Traumatized Brain
Cover image of The Traumatized Brain
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The Traumatized Brain

A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior after Brain Injury

Vani Rao, MBBS, MD, and Sandeep Vaishnavi, MD, PhD
foreword by Peter V. Rabins, MD, MPH

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Useful information and real hope for patients and families whose lives have been altered by traumatic brain injury.

A traumatic brain injury is a life-changing event, affecting an individual’s lifestyle, ability to work, relationships—even personality. Whatever caused it—car crash, work accident, sports injury, domestic violence, combat—a severe blow to the head results in acute and, often, lasting symptoms. People with brain injury benefit from understanding, patience, and assistance in recovering their bearings and functioning to their full abilities.

In The Traumatized Brain...

Useful information and real hope for patients and families whose lives have been altered by traumatic brain injury.

A traumatic brain injury is a life-changing event, affecting an individual’s lifestyle, ability to work, relationships—even personality. Whatever caused it—car crash, work accident, sports injury, domestic violence, combat—a severe blow to the head results in acute and, often, lasting symptoms. People with brain injury benefit from understanding, patience, and assistance in recovering their bearings and functioning to their full abilities.

In The Traumatized Brain, neuropsychiatrists Drs. Vani Rao and Sandeep Vaishnavi—experts in helping people heal after head trauma—explain how traumatic brain injury, whether mild, moderate, or severe, affects the brain. They advise readers on how emotional symptoms such as depression, anxiety, mania, and apathy can be treated; how behavioral symptoms such as psychosis, aggression, impulsivity, and sleep disturbances can be addressed; and how cognitive functions like attention, memory, executive functioning, and language can be improved. They also discuss headaches, seizures, vision problems, and other neurological symptoms of traumatic brain injury.

By stressing that symptoms are real and are directly related to the trauma, Rao and Vaishnavi hope to restore dignity to people with traumatic brain injury and encourage them to ask for help. Each chapter incorporates case studies and suggestions for appropriate medications, counseling, and other treatments and ends with targeted tips for coping. The book also includes a useful glossary, a list of resources, and suggestions for further reading.

Reviews

Reviews

We can thank Drs. Rao and Vaishnavi for this remarkable contribution to patients, families, and clinicians. Few professionals, doctors included, know how to deliver their highly informed knowledge and experience in ways that lay readers can comprehend and use.

Individuals who have experienced a TBI, as well as their families, will find this book useful and comforting, both for its clear explanations and its clinical guidance.

The Traumatized Brain puts victims and their families back in command: rewiring the brain, reshaping behaviors, inspiring compassion, and restoring one's sense of self.

An approachably human and effectively informative book on a complicated and painful injury.

The Traumatized Brain remains a valuable resource for brain-injured clients and their caregivers, and it can help bridge the language reference gap between providers and patients.

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About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
224
ISBN
9781421417967
Illustration Description
9 line drawings
Table of Contents

Foreword, by Peter V. Rabins
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I
1. The Inner Workings of the Brain
2. The Structure of the Brain
3. Types of Traumatic Brain Injury
4. Influences on Recovery after Traumatic

Foreword, by Peter V. Rabins
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I
1. The Inner Workings of the Brain
2. The Structure of the Brain
3. Types of Traumatic Brain Injury
4. Influences on Recovery after Traumatic Brain Injury
Part II
5. Depression
6. Anxiety
7. Mania
8. Apathy
Part III
9. Psychosis
10. Aggression
11. Impulsivity
12. Sleep Disturbances
Part IV
13. Attention
14. Memory
15. Executive Function
16. Language
Part V
17. Headaches
18. Seizures
19. Vision
Epilogue
Glossary
Resources
Suggested Reading
Index

Author Bios
Vani Rao, MBBS, MD
Featured Contributor

Vani Rao, MBBS, MD

Vani Rao, MBBS, MD (SEVERN, MD), is a part-time associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also has a private practice in Washington, DC.
Sandeep Vaishnavi, MD, PhD
Featured Contributor

Sandeep Vaishnavi, MD, PhD

Sandeep Vaishnavi, MD, PhD (CARY, NC), is a faculty member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and an adjunct associate in the Department of Medicine at Duke University. He is also a neuropsychiatrist and the chief medical officer designate at ARC Health.
Featured Contributor

Peter V. Rabins, MD, MPH

Peter V. Rabins, MD, MPH, is professor emeritus in the Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The author of Is It Alzheimer's? 101 Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions about Memory Loss and Dementia, he was the founding director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry and the first holder of the Richman Family Professorship...