Practitioner's Guide to Symptom Base Rates in Clinical Neuropsychology (Critical Issues in Neuropsychology) [Spiral-bound]

Robert J. McCaffrey (Editor), Anjali A. Palav (Editor), Sid O'Bryant (Editor), Andrew S. Labarge (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2003 | Series: Critical Issues in Neuropsychology

This volume serves as an aid in the process of differential diagnosis which frequently confronts neuropsychologists. The guide is a compendium of information of the base rates of symptoms across a variety of disorders which neuropsychologists encounter. In addition to serving as a convenient source of information on symptom base rates, this volume also contains detailed cross referencing of symptoms across disorders. It is intended for use by clinical neuropsychologists and psychologists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: "This recent text by McCaffrey, Palav, Bryant, and Labarge provides tables and procedures for estimating the positive and negative predictive values of our tests given varying base rates of the condition of interest. They include numerous symptoms associated with traumatic brain injury, neurological disease, and psychological disorders. … This is a valuable resource for clinical, forensic, and research use." (Paul R. Lees-Haley, Applied Neuropsychology, Vol. 14 (3), 2007)

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 552 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (October 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306478293
• ISBN-13: 978-0306478291
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,928,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skewed and haphazard., March 20, 2006

By 

J. Marmorstein "winniesfriend" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practitioner's Guide to Symptom Base Rates in Clinical Neuropsychology (Critical Issues in Neuropsychology) (Spiral-bound)

I wanted to like this book but couldn't. After a BRIEF preface, the authors present a relentless stream of tables unbroken by commentary. Each table is offered with the study's author, publication date, sample size, gender, age, nationality, population, time frame and method of report. There is also an index listing primary symptoms and page references to help navigate the reader, however it is incomplete and retrieving a table by a symptom ranked second or third in the listing requires rereading the text.

Given that base-rates tend to define abnormality and given the usefulness of inquiring about comorbid symptoms, this book seems like it ought to be a useful. Instead it is a curiosity. Results are presented without the rationale for the studies inclusion or discussion of the results no matter how provocative.

The book seems to selectively include studies providing elevated rates of symptomatology.I worry that these citations, which seem to show inflated rates of illness and pathological symptoms in community samples, will be used to further dismiss vulnerable individuals with health concerns.