Neuropsychology

From witch doctors to sophisticated science

New from Routledge is 'Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, The International Handbook'. With 626 pages in 43 chapters from 18 different countries, it was a mammoth undertaking for editors Barbara A. Wilson, Jill Winegardner, Caroline M. van Heugten and Tamara Ownsworth. Here, they outline some of the challenges.

09 October 2017

We wanted our handbook to be genuinely international, not conceived in one country and overloaded by contributors from that initiating source. Such volumes can, in effect, seem to be a kind of imperialistic domination of one country’s ideas and practices that might not deserve the title ‘international’. So, we are editors from the UK, USA, Australia and the Netherlands; the contributors come from countries ranging from one where rehabilitation includes the influence of a witch doctor to those where the most sophisticated science is employed. All six continents are represented.

We are all women who know each other from conferences, share knowledge of contemporary neuropsychological literature, and are in constant consultation. That shared vision for the book was important: we avoided unnecessary debate and constantly sought agreement as to how to proceed. In fact the volume was completed in two years, and presented to the publisher one day earlier than
the date nominated originally!

The book is concerned with the neuropsychological rehabilitation of both adults and children, survivors of progressive and non-progressive conditions, and deals with general issues, populations, rehabilitation of cognitive and psychosocial disorders, recent and emerging approaches in neuropsychological rehabilitation, and global and cultural perspectives. With authors coming from so many different countries, we required huge concentration: each chapter was edited by two and sometimes even three of us to ensure the final text that was worthy of the discipline, the expertise and experience of each individual author, and the needs of the reader.  

Our main aims were to improve the global practice of neuropsychological rehabilitation, to enable the spread of such rehabilitation round the world, to inform providers and purchaser of the breadth and depth of neuropsychological rehabilitation, to convince all readers that it is evidence-based, and to enable people from different countries to learn from each other.

We have been delighted by initial responses to our handbook, but more importantly even than the respected commendations of academics, theorists and researchers we, as editors, hope the handbook will lead to better practice by all those working ‘at the coal face’: be they psychologists, speech and language therapists, medical doctors, occupational therapists, nurses, students or family members who are attempting to make the lives of people with brain injury more manageable and fulfilling.

For 20% off Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, please click here and use the following discount code PSY17.

*This discount cannot be combine with any offer and is only valid against print books purchased directly from www.routledge.com. Valid until the 31st December, 2017.