ABSTRACT
As a clinical practitioner, I am often asked by my patients, or family members of my patients, to tell them what is wrong, how a problem developed, and what can be done to “fix it.” As a neuropsychologist who works with forensic patients, these questions take one of four forms. First, I am asked how much brain damage the patient has. In most circumstances some other doctor has already opined that the patient has brain damage and the referral is to establish degree of damage. Less often, I am asked to opine if the patient has brain damage. Second, the patient (or the patient’s attorney) is eager to determine who was at fault, or who “caused” the brain damage. Third, patients and others want to know what kind of impact will the brain damage have on the future life of the patient, the family, or their interactions. Finally, patients or family members seek treatment recommendations. This book is written to provide clinicians with sound objective methods for developing and evaluating answers to these and other questions as they arise during the neuropsychological evaluation. I am guided by the observations of Robert Abelson (1995), who described properties of data that make data MAGIC: magnitude, articulation, generality, interestingness, and credibility. It is my view that neuropsychological assessment is so interdependent with data analysis methodologies, that attempts to make neuropsychological inference in the absence of considering statistical implications is malpractice.
