Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Keith Cicerone
- Preface
- Section 1 Background and theory
- Section 2 Group interventions
- Section 3 Case illustrations
- 13 Peter: successful rehabilitation following a severe head injury with cerebrovascular complications
- 14 Lorna: applying models of language, calculation and learning within holistic rehabilitation: from dysphasia and dyscalculia to independent cooking and travel
- 15 Caroline: treating post-traumatic stress disorder after traumatic brain injury
- 16 Interdisciplinary vocational rehabilitation addressing pain, fatigue, anxiety and impulsivity: Yusuf and his ‘new rules for business and life’
- 17 Judith: learning to do things ‘at the drop of a hat’: behavioural experiments to explore and change the ‘meaning’ in meaningful functional activity
- 18 Simon: brain injury and the family – the inclusion of children, family members and wider systems in the rehabilitation process
- 19 Adam: extending the therapeutic milieu into the community in the rehabilitation of a client with severe aphasia and apraxia
- 20 Malcolm: coping with the effects of Balint's syndrome and topographical disorientation
- 21 Kate: cognitive recovery and emotional adjustment in a young woman who was unresponsive for several months
- Section 4 Outcomes
- Index
- Plate section
21 - Kate: cognitive recovery and emotional adjustment in a young woman who was unresponsive for several months
from Section 3 - Case illustrations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Keith Cicerone
- Preface
- Section 1 Background and theory
- Section 2 Group interventions
- Section 3 Case illustrations
- 13 Peter: successful rehabilitation following a severe head injury with cerebrovascular complications
- 14 Lorna: applying models of language, calculation and learning within holistic rehabilitation: from dysphasia and dyscalculia to independent cooking and travel
- 15 Caroline: treating post-traumatic stress disorder after traumatic brain injury
- 16 Interdisciplinary vocational rehabilitation addressing pain, fatigue, anxiety and impulsivity: Yusuf and his ‘new rules for business and life’
- 17 Judith: learning to do things ‘at the drop of a hat’: behavioural experiments to explore and change the ‘meaning’ in meaningful functional activity
- 18 Simon: brain injury and the family – the inclusion of children, family members and wider systems in the rehabilitation process
- 19 Adam: extending the therapeutic milieu into the community in the rehabilitation of a client with severe aphasia and apraxia
- 20 Malcolm: coping with the effects of Balint's syndrome and topographical disorientation
- 21 Kate: cognitive recovery and emotional adjustment in a young woman who was unresponsive for several months
- Section 4 Outcomes
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
This chapter describes a young woman who was reported to be in a vegetative state for several months. She made a good cognitive recovery despite severe physical impairments but needed long-term support for emotional adjustment. This case illustrates how developing a shared understanding of Kate's strengths and difficulties with her and those around her was an important step toward re-establishing her sense of social identity. This, in turn, led to increased social participation.
Background and illness
Kate was born in 1970. She was the second daughter of a professional family living in Cambridge. She had a happy normal childhood with no serious illnesses. Her older sister trained as a medical doctor and Kate went to university to study history. After completing her degree Kate trained as a primary school teacher but because she felt her spelling was poor she chose to work at a nursery school near Peterborough. She was living with her boyfriend whom she hoped to marry and they planned to have several children. At the age of 26 years Kate developed a sore throat and a headache. Her mother described what happened.
One Sunday Kate phoned to say she had a sore throat. On Monday she went to work. I phoned on Tuesday but didn't speak to Kate, I spoke to Katey's boyfriend. He said Kate was not well and was in bed. He went to work on Wednesday and when he came home he could not wake her. He telephoned an ambulance and Kate was taken to hospital where she was said to be in a coma. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Neuropsychological RehabilitationTheory, Models, Therapy and Outcome, pp. 317 - 333Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009