Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:05:44.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reconstruction of Identity After Brain Injury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Mark Ylvisaker*
Affiliation:
College of Saint Rose, Albany, USA. ylvisakm@mail.strose.edu
Timothy Feeney
Affiliation:
Wildwood Institute, Schenectady, USA.
*
*Address for correspondence: Mark Ylvisaker, Ph.D., 1171 Van Antwerp Rd. Schenectady, NY 12309, USA.
Get access

Abstract

Following severe traumatic brain injury, difficulty with behavioural adjustment and community reintegration is common. A potential contributor to this difficulty is a sense of personal identity that is inconsistent with the restrictions on activity and need for effortful compensation imposed by persistent impairment. We summarise an information processing framework within which the impact of schematic mental models of self is explained and present intervention procedures designed to help individuals with traumatic brain injury reconstruct an organised and positive sense of personal identity. We conclude the paper with three instructive case illustrations.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)