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