ABSTRACT

Have you ever looked at a heavy volume on neuropsychology and wondered what it would actually be like to become a professional clinician, working every day with neurological patients in a busy hospital while simultaneously learning your craft? This book tells the story of that journey.

 

The Notebook of a New Clinical Neuropsychologist vividly details the experience of starting work in clinical neuropsychology, exploring early-career learning and development through an intimate, case-based approach. Topics include the learning of basic clinical skills and knowledge, counter-transference, the clinician’s emotional experiences, ethical and moral dilemmas, and the development of clinical reasoning. The book is structured around individual studies from the author’s early caseload, with each vignette containing the relevant neuropathology, clinical presentation, history, neuropsychological test finding and other clinical data. Chapters are also organized around key neuropathological conditions, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, and brain infections, which provide a broader context for the narrative focus of the book.

 

Few academic books explore the personal, intellectual and ethical dilemmas that face a new clinician working with patients in a neuropsychological setting. Tailored to facilitate experiential learning via case studies, reflective practice and problem based-learning, the book will be of interest to students and professionals working within the broad area of neuropsychology and brain injury services.

chapter 1|23 pages

Birth

First days in neuropsychology

chapter 2|19 pages

Toughness

Traumatic brain injury

chapter 3|21 pages

Fragility

Cerebro-vascular pathologies

chapter 4|19 pages

Badness

Infections in the brain

chapter 5|21 pages

Fate

Unpredictability in brain injury

chapter 6|20 pages

Shock

Epilepsy and pseudo-seizures

chapter 7|20 pages

Reality

Co-morbidity in clinical neuropsychology

chapter 8|20 pages

Life

Psychiatric aspects of neurological injury

chapter 9|19 pages

Inheritance

Genetic disorders

chapter 10|19 pages

Death

Dementia and neurological devastation