Ramona O. Hopkins – författare

Neuropsychiatric problems after critical illness are receiving increasing attention, particularly in the critical care medicine literature, but mental health and primary care clinicians should also be interested in these common problems, given the growing number of critical illness survivors who need care. Patients frequently come out of the intensive care unit (ICU) with horrifying distorted memories and don't understand what has happened to them. Not only are patients debilitated with ICU-acquired weakness and cognitive impairment, they are traumatized by actual experiences (e.g., shortness of breath and pain) and distorted memories (of being tortured, raped, assaulted, or imprisoned) shaped by delirium. Patients' family members are also frequently quite distressed, and children surviving critical illnesses appear to have similar experiences to adults. This book provides an overview of the nature and epidemiology of cognitive and other psychiatric problems in this growing population, and it addresses the small but growing literature on prevention and early intervention efforts. Addressing these problems successfully will require collaborative interventions, both in-ICU and post-ICU.

This important book describes the effects of a range of medical, psychological, and neurological conditions on brain functioning, specifically cognition. After a brief introduction  of brain anatomy and function focusing on neural systems and their complex role in cognition, this book covers common disorders across several medical specialties, as well as injuries that can damage a variety of neural networks. The authors review findings on associations between these conditions and cognitive domains such as executive function, memory, attention, and learning, and describe possible causal pathways between diseases and cognitive impairment. Later chapters describe potential strategies for prevention, improvement, and treatment.The book’s topics includeCognition in affective disordersCerebrovascular disease and cognitionCognitive sequelae of sepsisTraumatic brain injury and cognitionCognitive deficits associated with drug useObstructive sleep apnea and cognitionCognitive function in pulmonary diseaseThe Brain at Risk reflects the current interest in the links between body, mind, and brain, and will be of great value to researchers and practitioners interested in neuroscience, neuropsychology, and clinical research in the cognitive and behavioral consequences of brain injury and disease.