Customer Reviews

Living with Brain Injury: A Guide for Families (Rev)

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3 star:		(2)
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As a mother of a 15 yr old boy who has a TBI, I've read many books about brain injury. This book is an excellent resource...describing head trauma and how different functions can be affected. It also explains how a person actually comes out of a coma in gradual stages. It addresses so many pertinent issues...I'm so glad I was able to add it to my library.

All the other books I've read on that subject (my husband has TBI) are too techical. This is written in easy to understand languate and gives you the truth on what to expect when your loved one has a TBI.

While this book is excellent, it is ten years old. I prefer the much newer Mindstorms: The Complete Guide for Families Living with Traumatic Brain Injury (2009). Living with Brain Injury answers most of the questions asked by those new to brain injury. It's easy to read (with one exception) and can be digested in small portions. This is important because this book should be read by families as soon as possible after an injury. When I first picked up Living with a Brain Injury a few days after my wife's accident, I found much of Chapter 1, "An Anatomy Lesson," rough going. I'm not sure any writer could explain the complex operations of the brain in a manner that is understood easily by traumatized family members. I quickly moved on to the other more accessible chapters. Chapters 2-4 describe what happens to the brain when it's injured and the types and degrees of brain injury. Chapter 5 introduces the diagnostic and predictive tools used by medical personnel. When Jessica's doctors told me she would be changed forever by her brain injury, I turned to Chapters 6-8, which describe, in lay language, the most common physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms suffered by survivors. Chapter 9, "How to Pick the Right Rehabilitation Hospital" lists the fifteen components every rehabilitation program should include. Chapters 10 and 11 describe the rehabilitation personnel and processes that will help your survivor recover as well as possible. Chapter 12 provides even more hope in its explanation of the amazing ability of the brain to rewire itself around damaged areas. Returning home from the hospital presents new challenges to both survivors and caregivers. The final two chapters address these issues. Throughout Living with Brain Injury, Senelick and Dougherty assure their readers that people can recover well from a brain injury, something that we all can't hear too often.

After living with and caring for my 31 year old son, who suffers from a TBI, reading this book was a positive lift. It gave me hope, new ideas to try, and support for me and the rest of my family. TBI's are terrible injuries, especially when they are as severe as my son's; having reading material at hand that is well written and filled with good information is wonderful.

This was an excellent book. It's easy to read and well organized. Great references for further reading and help. If your loved one recently suffered a TBI this is the book to read. It will answer alot of the questions you will have as they progress in treatment. This book will explain the medications, treatment procedures etc that your loved one may be going through. I wish I would have gotten this book from the beginning. This is an excellent book to purchase for someone as soon as possible. It will help guide you through the process and what to expect.

Of all the traumatic brain injury books designed for laymen that I have read, this is the best -- from both understanding the medical aspects to dealing with the personality changes in a TBI patient. I only wish that a more recent edition was available and that a chapter dealing with the wild ride that occurs with elderly patients was included.

Excellent coverage of a very difficult subject.I am a brain injury nurse @ a rehabilitation hospital and have worked w/TBI patients for 20 years. This book takes you through the unfortunate experience about as well as anything I have yet read.I bought this for my daughter whose longtime boyfriend suffered a closed head injury in April,2008. She could not put this book down for 3 days. Excellent info/insight.

I bought three books and this was the best first book for me. It was the shortest, the most concise, and had the least amount about rehabilitation. It is a great first book to read. Then read a book about rehabilitation.

I recommend this book to patients and families on a regular basis to help describe how brain injury has changed them or their loved one. Brain injury is difficult to understand when you don't have some experience with someone who has one. So when someone you love is affected by a brain injury, you may ask why they are unmotivated, apathetic, always angry and irritable, not able to focus for long, somewhat obstinate, etc. I have found this book the most helpful so far in helping people understand brain injury.

This book should be required reading for anyone working with patients that have suffered any type of brain injury. I read this before my own brain injury and what I learned helped me recover faster then anyone has in the rehab I was in. As a matter of fact the shortest 'normal' stay is 3 to 6 months, I was only there a month. I have a long way to go to full recovery but with the help of these books I feel I will do more then anyone expected, actully I am already doing that.

Another great book to read for families or loved ones is "where is the Mango Princess" If you can read this to the person that suffered the brain injury, it will help everyone understand that the person that had the injury is not doing things to hurt anyone, that even a 'minor' brain injury has effects that are not totally understood. This book was written by the wife of a man that suffered a tramatic brain injury. Reading this book has helped me to understand the reasons for many of my problems, and actions. Of course knowing is not a cure but it helps to know that there is hope.

I have bought and sent copies to the rehab I was in for them to read and share that is how much these books impressed me.