Brain damage predisposes many persons with aphasia to a variety of psychological reactions, which are precipitated by stress and loss, and perpetuated by impaired verbal defense mechanisms and coping styles. Most of the literature on recovery from aphasia does not sufficiently address the overwhelming confusion and disorder that aphasia can cause in the patient, the communication partner, the communication between them, and their shared environment. The Psychology of Aphasia: A Practical Guide for Health Care Professionals fills this serious void. Dr. Dennis Tanner has studied the psychology of aphasia as a scientist and professor as well as evaluated and treated thousands of patients with neuropathologies of speech and language as a clinician over his 40-year career. This text represents the culmination of his efforts to understand the major psychological aspects of this complex communications disorder. The only text specifically addressing this topic, The Psychology of Aphasia is designed to provide the reader with a sound foundation of scientific information with current and historical scientific references spanning many decades. It delves into the certain psychological, emotional, and behavioral reactions that occur because of brain and nervous system damage, the psychological defenses and coping styles of patients and the verbal defense mechanisms they are deprived of due to their loss of language, as well as the grief response to the loss of physical abilities, valued objects, and the breakdown in communication. Each chapter is written in accessible language and provides practical case studies, illustrations, and examples of each major concept to reinforce learning. The whole aphasia rehabilitation team of speech-language pathologists, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, physicians, nurses, home health aides, and family members will find The Psychology of Aphasia: A Practical Guide for Health Care Professionals an enlightening tool to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical issues in treating actual patients.

This is a comprehensive, interpretive account of aphasia written to appeal to a broad audience. It combines historical, anatomic, and psychological approaches toward understanding the nature of aphasia. Included is a discussion of the brain-language relationship, the symptoms and syndromes common to aphasia, and alternative approaches to classification. Integrates phenomenology of aphasic symptoms with the anatomy of language and current theories of brain-language relations Traces history of aphasic theory, from pre-Broca to contemporary theory Provides detailed review of manifestations of aphasia in every language modality Contains critical analysis of neurolinguistic inter-relations

An up-to-date, integrated analysis of the language disturbances associated with brain pathology, this book examines the different types of aphasia combining two clinical approaches: the neurological and the neuropsychological. Although they stress the clinical aspects of aphasia syndromes, they also review assessment techniques, linguistic analyses, problems of aphasia classification, and frequently occurring related disorders such as alexia, agraphia, alcalculia, and anomia. In addition, they examine commonly encountered speech disorders, neurobehavioral and psychiatric problems commonly associated with aphasia, and the language characteristics of aging and dementia. Rehabilitation and recovery are discussed, and a neural basis for aphasia and related problems is proposed. Neuropsychologists, neurologists, speech therapists, psychiatrists, and occupational therapists will find this book invaluable when dealing with language disorders resulting from brain disease or injury.

This book presents the work on aphasia coming out of the Institute for Aphasia and Stroke in Norway during its 10 years of existence. Rather than reviewing previously presented work, it was my desire to give a unified analysis and discussion of our accumulated data. The empirical basis for the analysis is a fairly large group (249 patients) investigated with a standard, comprehensive set of procedures. Tests of language functions must be developed anew for each language, but comparison of my findings with other recent compre hensive studies of aphasia is faciliated by close parallels in test meth ods (Chapter 2). The classification system used is currently the most accepted neurological system, but I have operationalized it for research purposes (Chapter 3). The analyses presented are based on the view that aphasia is an aspect of a multidimensional disturbance of brain function. Find ings of associated disturbances and variations in the aphasic condition over time have been dismissed by some as irrelevant to the study of aphasia as a language deficit. My view is that this rich and complex set of findings gives important clues to the organization of brain functions in humans. I present analyses of the relationship of aphasia to neuropsychological disorders in conceptual organization, memory, visuospatial abilities and apraxia (Chapters 4, 5, and 6), and I study the variations with time of the aphasic condition (Chapter 8).

Psychotherapy and Aphasia: Interventions for Emotional Wellbeing and Relationships is an exciting international collaboration among clinical neuropsychologists, speech and language therapists and family therapists that details a range of innovative psychotherapeutic interventions to enable people with communication disorders and their families to access meaningful support. People with aphasia and other acquired communication disorders can face significant challenges accessing emotional support. Many traditional forms of psychotherapy are based on spoken language, rendering it inaccessible for many people with communication disorders. But the book details a range of techniques that move away from reliance on spoken language, including total communication strategies, the use of meaningful objects, experiential process, group experience and mind-body practices. Featuring clinical examples which cover a range of stroke and neurology service contexts, the book includes contributions from a range of therapeutic models; from speech and language therapy and family therapy to clinical neuropsychology, cognitive-behavioural, systemic, narrative and mind-body traditions. It therefore provides clinicians with a wide-range of practical and theoretical tools to explore when supporting survivors who experience psychological distress during rehabilitation. It is the only book aimed at both speech and language therapists and psychotherapists, and will open up new pathways to support.

This groundbreaking work brings together leading scientist-practitioners to review what is known about aphasia and to relate current knowledge to treatment. Integrating traditional linguistic formulations with new insights derived from cognitive neuroscience, this volume explores the neuropsychological bases of both normal and pathologic language. It reflects an understanding of brain structure and function based on new developments in connectionist modeling and functional neuroimaging.