Famous Case Histories in Neurotrauma

What neuroscience continues to learn from survivors

Jessica Matyas

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000172928
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Neuropsychology
• Index: Psychology

Using a popular case history format, this book presents a scientific history of neurotrauma. It covers a range of well-known cases, including Roald Dahl, James Brady, and Walter Freeman to give insights into a variety of neurotrauma causes and effects, from aphasia and amnesia to lobotomy and mercury toxicity.

Cases are connected to clinical research methods, exploring how these methods have changed over time and illustrating how these cases are still relevant as we continue to learn about recovery from brain and spinal cord injuries. Focusing on individuals who survived their injuries beyond the acute phase, the book highlights the long-term behavioral effects of the injuries and provides estimates for prognoses and recovery pathways in acknowledgment of naturally occurring neuroregeneration. With helpful key term definitions, Matyas distinguishes fact from fiction to give an accurate account of a wide spectrum of cases and highlight what we can learn from them.

Famous Case Histories in Neurotrauma is valuable reading for students in behavioral neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology and related fields.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. ‘What Could Possibly Go Wrong?’: An Introduction to Neurotrauma
• Chapter 2. ‘Bone Windows’: Trephination and the Modern Craniotomy
• Chapter 3. ‘In with a Bang’: The American Crowbar Case, Mr. Phineas Gage
• Chapter 4. ‘No Words to Describe’: Patient Tan and Aphasias
• Chapter 5. ‘We’re All Mad Here’: Mercury Toxicity and the Origin of the Phrase ‘Mad as a Hatter’
• Chapter 6. ‘My World of Pure Imagination’: Roald Dahl’s Journey from Fighter Pilot to Children’s Author
• Chapter 7. ‘Fast, Affordable Brain Surgery for Everyone!’: Walter Freeman, Pioneer of the Transorbital Lobotomy
• Chapter 8. ‘Hi, My Name is Henry’: The World’s Most Memorable Amnestic, H.M.
• Chapter 9. ‘To Jodie with Love’: James Brady’s Emotional Journey
• Chapter 10. ‘On Shaky Ground’: The Frozen Addicts and Toxin-Induced Parkinsonism
• Chapter 11. ‘The One True Superman’: Christopher Reeve’s Steps toward Hope
• Chapter 12. ‘A Stream of Water is Endlessly Beautiful’: Jason Padgett and Acquired Savant Syndrome
• Chapter 13. ‘Man Bites Dog’: How Rabies Encephalitis May Someday Be Curable
• Chapter 14. ‘Down like a Ton of Bricks’: Iron Mike Webster and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
• Chapter 15. ‘Misery Loves Company’: Similarities among Highly Variable TBIs/SCIs
• References
• Index