The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior after Brain Injury

(A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book) 1st Edition
by Vani Rao (Author), Sandeep Vaishnavi (Author), Peter V. Rabins (Foreword)

Now available on Amazon.com!

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be extremely frightening and confusing for those closely affected by the issue. The emotional impact is overwhelming, and finding ways to understand and discuss this complex disorder can be quite difficult. To help, Carolina Partners’ own Dr. Sandeep Vaishnavi, along with Dr. Vani Rao, has written The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior after Brain Injury.

TBI can cause a multitude of cognitive and physical issues such as mood changes, memory problems, vision or hearing loss, seizures, difficulty with movement, depression, and anxiety. An individual's entire personality can go through drastic changes as a result of TBI. Family members, especially those of younger sufferers of TBI, often fail to recognize that behavioral and emotional changes in a loved one over time may not be psychological, but neurological.

Informed by their own clinical expertise, doctors Vaishnavi and Rao use easy-to-understand language to break down the basics of neuroscience and brain function. The symptoms and warning signs of TBI are discussed in clear detail alongside strategies for dealing with TBI's effects, providing an essential manual for any person directly affected by - or interested in - TBI.

With The Traumatized Brain, doctors Vashnavi and Rao have given readers - from family members of loved ones with TBI to caregivers of TBI patients to TBI survivors themselves - an important source of knowledge and inspiration for understanding and tackling the many challenges of traumatic brain injury.

Editorial Reviews:

“If ever there was a book that truly could save your life it would be this one. Drs. Rao and Vaishnavi have written a critical manual for parents, family, essentially anyone, to help recognize and explain the warning signs of a TBI. Without visible symptoms, sufferers have long remained silent or been deemed 'crazy,' but this important book not only details the physiological, cognitive and behavioral changes in the brain, it offers hope through treatment.”

(Bob Woodruff, ABC News Journalist, Peabody Award Winner) 

“Doctors Rao and Vaishnavi have written a valuable and timely book that is long overdue.  It not only contains an excellent summary of TBI and its effects, but also strategies to deal with them.  I highly recommend this excellent book.”

(Thom Mayer, MD, Medical Director, NFL Players Association) 

“This book will challenge and encourage the reader. Whether an interested lay person, a caretaker, a family member, or a professional in the medical, nursing, or social work fields, readers will find this pioneering book a useful guide to the complexities of traumatic brain injury.”

(From the Foreword by Peter V. Rabins, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, coauthor of The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life) 

“The Traumatized Brain is a great resource for anyone with a loved one who has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Whether you’re a caregiver, co-worker, friend, or survivor, this book is filled with useful information to help you understand and be prepared for the different symptoms of TBI and how TBI affects the brain.”

(Amy Zellmer, writer, photographer, and TBI survivor) 

“We are faced with an epidemic of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among victims of sports, accidents, and wars. The cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of such injuries are varied and complex. Using a contemporary understanding of cognitive neuroscience and a gift for distilling complex ideas, Drs. Rao and Vaishnavi present a clear and coherent picture of TBI. Informed by their own substantial clinical expertise, they also offer practical advice making this guide essential reading for caregivers and family members as well as the general clinical practitioner.”

(Anjan Chatterjee, MD, FAAN, Elliot Professor and Chair, Pennsylvania Hospital, The University of Pennsylvania, and author of  The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art)

About the Authors:

Vani Rao, MBBS, MD, is an associate professor and the director of the Brain Injury Clinic and the Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry Fellowship Program within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Sandeep Vaishnavi, MD, PhD, is the director of the Neuropsychiatric Clinic at Carolina Partners. He is a neuropsychiatrist at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Duke University Medical Center, and is affiliated with Duke’s Departments of Psychiatry and Community and Family Medicine.