At the age of 17, Morningstar's daughter, Misti, was broadsided by an 18 wheeler. As Misti lay in deep coma, they were given little hope that their daughter would even survive. When she awoke, they slowly realized the extent of her brain damage.

Journey Through Brain Trauma is the true story of Louise Morningstar's struggle to help her daughter recover from devastating brain damage. The Morningstars' heroic story will inspire and inform all those who are struggling with rehabilitation from a brain injury.

For survivors of PTSD and repeated, relational trauma -- and the people who love them. Gretchen Schmelzer watched too many people quit during treatment for trauma recovery. They found it too difficult or too frightening or just decided that for them it was too late. But as a therapist and trauma survivor herself, Dr. Schmelzer wants us to know that it is never too late to heal from trauma, whether it is the suffering caused within an abusive relationship or PTSD resulting from combat. Sometimes what feels like a big setback is actually an unexpected difficult step forward. So she wrote Journey Through Trauma specifically for survivors--to help them understand the terrain of the healing process and stay on the path. There are three basic principles that every trauma survivor should know: Healing is possible. It requires courage. And it cannot be done alone. Traumas that happen more than once--child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, even war--are all relational traumas. They happened inside a relationship and therefore must be healed inside a relationship, whether that relationship is with a therapist or within a group. Journey Through Trauma gives us a map to help guide us through that healing process, see where the hard parts show up, and persevere in the process of getting well. We learn the five phases that every survivor must negotiate along the way and come to understand that since the cycle of healing is not linear, circling back around to a previous stage does not mean defeat - it actually means progress as well as facing new challenges. Authoritative and accessible, Journey Through Trauma provides support for survivors and their loved ones through one of the most challenging but necessary processes of healing that anyone can face.

Identity Transformation and Posttraumatic Growth Following Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder provides an autoethnographic qualitative study that portrays the author’s recovery from a devastating life-changing event – a car crash resulting in the hybrid diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leading to posttraumatic growth (PTG) and identity transformation over a ten-year recovery period. In so doing, the text offers a comprehensive literature review on TBI, PTSD, PTG and disability culture. Throughout, the author explores whether growth (PTG) and distress (PTSD) and whether TBI and PTSD can co-exist. Having lost her ability to read and write, the author had to learn how to learn, to heal and to have faith again. As a licensed trauma therapist and researcher, she collected self-observational data by writing her actual behaviors, thoughts and emotions in real time, both in a field and a process journal, even before she could write in full sentences. The many symptoms and co-morbidities of TBI and PTSD and the tenets of PTG are portrayed as they evolved in recovery showing the behaviors and characteristics of each. The text refers to actual journal entries, medical records and clinical notes from rehabilitation specialists, alternating between her clinical analysis and interpretation. The findings show that tragedy and suffering can lead to growth and positive change (PTG) after TBI, even though the precipitating trauma and psychological distress (PTSD) may persist for years. Changes are seen in self-perception, interpersonal relationships and philosophies of life. This chronicled account of the author’s emergent recovery from patient to doctor is intended to benefit neuro-rehabilitation service providers (neuropsychologists, primary care physicians, speech-language pathologists) and also mental health clinicians who can see the evolution of PTG for what is now the new next step for many in PTSD recovery.

Offers coverage on a wide range of clinical issues. There are comprehensive sections on head trauma, spinal trauma, plexus and peripheral nerve injuries, post-traumatic pain syndromes, sports and neurologic trauma, environmental trauma, posttraumatic sequelae and medicolegal aspects, and iatrogenic trauma. Among the new chapters are neurorehabilitation of brain injury, pediatric head injury, posttraumatic clinical neuropathies, neurootologic trauma and vertigo, impairment and disability evaluation, and five others on iatrogenic trauma.

This work aims to support the understanding of those who work with children by providing detailed information about some of the central themes in early development, such as: brain growth and function, the role of the senses, emotion, and aspects of how children learn.

An essential guide for understanding the inner workings of your brain! Do you really only use 10 percent of your brain? Can a bump to the head really restore memories? Does your brain ever lie to you? Why do you always forget where your glasses are, but never how to read? The brain makes you who you are. This fascinating organ creates your personality and controls your reactions and emotions. It's responsible for how you perceive the world around you--all while controlling hundreds of physical functions like breathing, moving, circulation, and digestion. The brain is simply amazing! The Everything Guide to the Human Brain will help you to unlock the mysteries of the brain. You'll learn how the brain communicates with each part of the body, how it affects your emotional life, why you dream, and how you remember things. And you'll also get in-depth descriptions of brain disorders and how science and medicine are working to heal or reverse them. Written in plain English, this ultimate user's guide will help you learn about the most influential part of your body!