Customer Reviews

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Postconcussion Syndrome: The New Evidence Base for Diagnosis and Treatment (Oxford Workshop Series: American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm a military psychiatrist serving with Marines in Afghanistan. Sadly, the last few months' combat operations has resulted in a slew of mTBI cases that have been referred my way. I needed a quick review of the literature on this topic to bring me up to speed, and this book did it. A colleague of mine (also serving out here) highly recommended this text, so I bought it, and was able to quickly get through it. Wonderful chapter on the proposed mechanism of injury, explaining the fascinating neurometabolic cascade the follows a TBI (my previous understanding was limited to "diffuse axonal injury"). Great section on the natural history of TBI that has really helped me frame expectations for my patients. It's rare to find a book that, at once, exhaustively reviews the literature AND is easily-readable and clinically applicable. Bravo Zulu, Dr. McCrea!

Fabulous book! Outcome in mild traumatic brain injury has been the subject of many unfortunate myths that have actually served to harm mild TBI patients. I have seen many mild traumatic brain injury patients who came to believe that they were disabled by their injury, and and as a result were robbed of their quality of life (e.g., left jobs that they were capable of still doing and as a result suffered financial reversals, etc.). This book carefully, thoroughly, and convincingly summarizes the literature showing no longterm cognitive changes in this population. Hopefully, medical professionals will now start acccurately educating their patients as to true outcome in this condition.

I'm not sure who the people are that are giving this a 1-star review, but it's obvious that they know almost nothing about the TBI field. Great book to have on as a reference if you work with mildTBI in a mecical or legal setting.

The first 73 pages of this book are a good review of the fairly recent literature on the subject, though already outdated to some extent. It is a quick read and will bring the reader up to date through the literature published before 2008. After the first third of the book the quality drops precipitously.

The remainder of the book presents the theory that residual dysfunction is due to a psychological disorder without an organic basis. The argument masks science, twisting circumstantial findings and opinions as facts, without presenting any real foundation for this position. The argument of whether a post-concussive syndrome is a psychological disorder or represents organic dysfunction is in my opinion outdated and until there is an objective way to measure this question, it is not with debating. For now, we know that a mild brain injury can result in both cognitive and behavioral complaints. These sequalae are not mutually exclusive of one another. Patients suffering from such unfortunate injuries deserve to be treated holistically and with an absence of bias. Ultimately, Dr. MCrea undermines his credibility with his biased perspective.

The previous reviews tend to take sides. Any editor of any book must make choices, whether its the "Best Short Stories of 2009" or a lead author summarizing certain studies in the field Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Postconcussion Syndrome.

I thought the book was a good way for me to keep up to speed on what some people in the field are doing and saying. As with any book, the reader is responsible for remaining active and, when appropriate, skeptical of what is written. Nevertheless, I appreciated that I could slip the book in my travel bag and read up on the subject area while on vacation.

Jeff Merrick, Oregon Trial Attorney
Injury & Employment Law
[...]

The book lacks credibility because it presents (and defends) a thesis that mild traumatic brain injuries almost always resolve completely within three months of injury. This view ignores substantial clinical evidence to the contrary.

This book lacks integrity becuase its tone suggests that it presents the "state of the art" and it appears to summarize the literature and recent research. In fact, the author is highly selective in the research sources considered, discussed, and included. It appears to tap only those sources consistent with its thesis, and ignores the substantial weight of opinion to the contrary.

It is well written, and it is documented in a seemingly respectible manner, which makes it all that more insidious. It appears to be used a text book. Pity the students who believe this author, without considering other facts and information.

Curiosity leads me to wonder whether this author supplements his income as an expert witness for insurance companies defending claims by victims of MTBI? The book's thesis certainly fits the mold.

Using all the prestige of ABCN and Oxford University Press, this work systematically reviews Mild Head Injury with prejudice and an appalling lack of objectivity. Quite literally, it is like having a lower ranking administrator from the NRA write about gun related violence. That the author is siding with defense oriented, insurance subsidized research is obvious. Not only is the bibliography of this work highly biased, but the author has a grossly inflated, nearly awesome regard for what are often pseudoscientists. At minimum, they could have given lip service to the alternative point of view and cited some of the far more prestigious research. Overall, I am not sure whether to describe this work as pathetic or disturbing.

I agree completely with "survivor" from the earlier post. I bought this book expecting to learn a bit more insight into my own brain injury. I returned the book as it had little to offer. It appears the author has had little experience dealing with people with brain injuries and yes it does appear that he may be working for insurance companies to create a reference point to deny claims from people suffering from brain injuries.

This is a nice book for insurance companies and the lawyers and physicians who work for them. This book is a waste of paper.