Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason - Book Report/Review Example

Neuroscience (Book Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason (Paperback - April 28, 2009) Introduction There are many good books on the field of neuroscience, but one of them that I find rather fascinating is Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath written by Michael Paul Mason. The author of the book is a brain-injury case manager at the Brookhaven Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute in Oklahoma (Mason 11). There are actually reasons behind my choice of the book as these reasons shall be established in this paper. There were some terminologies presented in the book that their meanings had to be checked for, in order to fully comprehend the book. A clear overview of the book would be necessary to memorize the lessons learnt by reading the book and the application of the book to the practice of neuroscience. The reason the book was chosen There are actually a myriad of books that explains the life and times of neurological patients, but Head Cases is my most preferred book on the field of neuroscience. The fact that the book was written by an expert in the field of neurosciences justifies its choice as the book to be used for the review. The book was written by a brain injury case manager and is quite different from other books on neurosciences that were written by people who have little or no experience on the problems faced by people that have brain injuries. Another reason that the book was chosen is that it expands the frontiers of knowledge of prospective neuroscientists as it would aid them in discovering the effects of brain injury on individuals suffering from the infirmity. The book presented a multidimensional analysis of neurological problems as it was not solely based on brain injuries. The author goes further to explain the courage of people that had brain injuries and their doggedness in trying to pick the pieces of their lives together after facing the devastating effects of brain injuries. It is the multifaceted perspective of the book that endeared my heart to it. Terms learnt in the course of reading the book There are a couple of terminologies that were learnt in the course of reading the book. Though some of these terminologies were known before, but their meanings were not really clear. Though the meanings of the terminologies could be known, if one contextualizes the words, but it was still necessary to look up the meaning of the words in order to have a clearer view of the words. Some of the terms learnt in the book are: locked-in syndrome (a condition that a patient is awake but incapable of communicating with anybody, due to a total paralysis of almost all of the voluntary muscles of the body), petit mal seizure (which is a type of seizure that involves a spontaneous scream and is usually caused by the unusual contraction of the breath-controlling muscles), Capgras’ syndrome (which is a neurological problem that occurs when patients imagine that somebody they have an emotional attachment with has been replaced by an interchangeable dual and with the intention of causing harm to them). Other terms learnt in the book are: polyhydramnios, post concussive syndrome (PCS), trigeminal ganglion, psychogenic nonepileptic sezures (PNES) and voudoun ceremony (Mason). Overview of the book Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath is basically the analysis of the long-term psychological effects that a brain injury has on individuals suffering from this infirmity. The book highlights the problems and frustrations that a person suffering from neurosis would suffer and explains the intricacies involved in treating brain related diseases. The book gives a brilliant account of the science of the brain. Mason gives a well detailed account of the experiences of people that had encountered brain injuries and he explains that these problems could actually last for a lifetime. The author explains that the survivors of brain injuries usually find it difficult to come to terms with their problem. Victims of brain injuries find it hard to grasp the fact that they have to live in a new world with their predicaments for the rest of their life (Mason). The experience of a snowboarder that sustained injuries to the brain after an erratic hop was narrated in the book as the author reported that the snowboarder was having over a hundred seizures each month. The story of a young man that had difficulties when it comes to shedding tears was also relived in the book. The story of one of Mason’s clients, a former officer in the air force that suffers from catalepsy as a result of the invasion of the brain by a herpes virus was also explained in the book. Mason tried to use these experiences to explain the causes of the awful accident to the brain. People that had accidents to the brain usually have problems such as seizures; memory loss; dissociative fugue state; aggression; cognitive impairment; aggression; and psychosis (Mason). In narrating the experience of the survivors of brain injuries, the author calls the reader’s attention to the mysteries that surrounds the brain and its self-healing power. “Like a complicated electrical signal that reroutes messages back and forth. In recent years, neuroscience has revealed that the brain has a dynamic proclivity for self-recovery.” (Mason 169). When the brain experiences injuries, the tissues of the brain try to heal it and this is a fact that was established in the book. The brain restructures its physiology and tries to decipher ways to heal itself. The book also explains the failure of the health care system in providing adequate facilities in meeting up with the alarming cases of brain related problems. The lessons learnt by reading the book and how these lessons might be applied to practice There are many lessons that could be learnt from reading this book. One of the lessons learnt are the inadequacies of the healthcare system in meeting up with the challenges currently being faced in the field of neuroscience. It is also a call to understanding for me as it explains the problems faced by people that sustained injuries of the brain. As an intending neuroscientist the book has made me realize that I would have to work hard in order to meet up with the challenges in the field of neurosciences. The book brings me to the realization that the lives of people that have brain related problems have not ended, though they suffer lifetime travail. It would be useful in my work of counseling the families of patients suffering from brain injuries to learn more about the transformation process that has taken place in the lives of their loved one. In trying to solve the problems of depressed people during my clinical practice, I have learnt through this book to induce tears in the patients suffering from depression as this would help to reduce the high level of manganese in their body. This technique would help them to eliminate some of the manganese that is dangerous to their health. The book also explained that the transformation process that takes place in the life of someone that sustained brain injuries could make them do things they were unable to do before the brain injury. When people are reported to have achieved some unimaginable feats, I would have to check their medical history to know if they had cases of brain injuries in the past. The book also reminds me that people suffering from brain injuries are the most vulnerable and fragile people in the society and they must be treated with caution. Due to the numerous lessons that I learnt from reading the book, I highly recommend this book to other students of neurosciences as it would also help them in clinical practice. Work Cited Mason, Michael Paul. Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. Read More