The Invisible Brain Injury

The Invisible Brain Injury recounts, in her own words, the experience of Aurora Lassaletta, a clinical psychologist who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a traffic accident. Presenting her unique dual perspective as both a patient and a clinician, Aurora highlights the less visible cognitive, emotional and behavioural symptoms common to acquired brain injury (ABI). This moving account showcases Aurora's growing awareness of her impairments, their manifestation in daily life, how they are perceived, or not, by others and the tools that helped her survive. Each chapter combines Aurora's perspective with the scientific view of a professional neuropsychologist or physiatrist who provide commentaries on her various symptoms. This book is valuable reading for professionals involved in neurorehabilitation and clinical neuropsychology and for clinical psychology students. It is a must read for ABI survivors, those around them and clinicians, who are all an essential part of the rehabilitation, adjustment and acceptance process involved with ABI.

Aurora Lassaletta had to stop her work as a psychotherapist in a public mental health service in 2005 due to her TBI. She undertook a path of learning and improvement that she still follows today. At her new pace, Aurora enjoys helping other survivors learn to live with ABI through psychological support groups.

List of contributors About the author Note Preface PART 1: THE INVISIBLE BRAIN INJURY 1. The invisible brain injury - Aurora Lassaletta Introduction The history of the book PART 2: COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS 2. Cognitive symptoms related to attention - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Neurological fatigue: continuous energy calculations Attention difficulties Just one intense thing a day! The saturated hard drive Brain sluggishness. Orders take time to arrive. 3. Cognitive symptoms related to executive functions - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Need for external guidance with organisation Complicated decision-making Difficulty adapting to changes Impaired creativity 4. Cognitive symptoms related to memory - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Memory difficulty: the need for "cognitive crutches" Slow learning curve Not learning from experience, nor remembering it 5. Cognitive symptoms related to thinking - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Difficulty summarising Concrete thinking 6. Cognitive symptoms related to lack of awareness - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Lack of awareness of the real situation PART 3: BEHAVIOURAL, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS 7. Behavioural symptoms - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Impulsivity and verbal incontinence Tendency to passivity Loss of improvisation 8. Emotional symptoms - Aurora Lassaletta and Amor Bize Affective flattening and emotional inexpressiveness 9. Physical symptoms - Aurora Lassaletta and Susana Pajares Body awareness and sensitivity Sleep disturbance and loss of satiety sensation Loss of balance Hypersensitivity to medications Asymmetry Auditory and optical hypersensitivity, diplopia, hyposalivation PART 4: LONG-TERM ADJUSTMENT AND CONCLUSIONS 10. Identity reconstruction - Aurora Lassaletta and Christian Salas Long term emotional adjustment following an ABI Awareness of deficits and integrating the new me Internalising compensatory tools 11. Concluding remarks - Aurora Lassaletta References Index