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