Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (2010), 16, 730–735.
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2010.
730
As a neuropsychologist working primarily with neurological
populations, I am often faced with the lackluster job of tell-
ing people the dirty details about their cognitive problems
while having few answers as to what they can do about them.
Although (and perhaps because) I do not practice within a
rehabilitation facility, I feel an urgency to become better ac-
quainted with the practice of neuropsychological rehabilita-
tion. I have come to realize that neuropsychology is often
simply a means to an end (i.e., to help inform treatment)
and is rarely an end in and of itself. Many of us entered the
field of neuropsychology to (forgive my triteness) “help peo-
ple.” However, while assessment is steeped in the excitement
of solving a mystery, for some it does not provide the same
satisfaction as working with people to achieve meaningful
improvements in their life. So in recent years I have begun to
delve into the large body of literature on this topic. Even
though I have focused my reading on rehabilitation work
done specifically with traumatic brain injury (TBI), it is a
little like dipping your toe in the deep end of the swimming
pool before your first solo swim. In fact, the more I venture
into this field, the more I feel like Arthur Dent traveling the
galaxy for the first time—lost and overwhelmed by the scope
of all that there is to learn.
What you need is a guide. One that simultaneously delivers
the big picture and some detailed accounts of how to approach
different clinical treatment challenges. Well have I got the
book for you. In Neuropsychological Rehabilitation: Theory,
Models, Therapy and Outcome, Barbara A. Wilson and her
colleagues have compiled an impressive (yet compact) text
that will undoubtedly serve as a wonderful guide for those on
their first voyage into this area of practice and seasoned trav-
elers alike. You will find this book to be well-written and or-
ganized, deftly balancing theory and practice, while
continuously keeping a finger on scientific evidence without
neglecting the all-important client-centered orientation.
For those of you who work in the rehabilitation field or
have begun to do reading in this area, the editors of this new
book will be very familiar to you. The lead editor and author
of this text, Barbara A. Wilson, has devoted a lifetime to neu-
ropsychological rehabilitation and is considered a world-
renowned researcher and clinician in this field. Not only
does this book reflect the breadth and depth of her experi-
ences, but it also showcases the practice orientation and
methods used in the Oliver Zangwill Centre for Neuropsy-
chological Rehabilitation (OZC), which she founded and
began directing over a decade ago. Hence, this is not just a
book on theory (though there is plenty of that found here),
but it also serves as a very practical resource by divulging
details of the well-developed treatment intervention pro-
grams used at the OZC, along with case examples of neurop-
sychological rehabilitation methods used at the individual
level for some of the most challenging problems facing TBI
clients (a term consciously used by the book authors instead
of “patient” to capture the collegial relationship). I should
note here that, although I primarily refer to TBI in this re-
view, the interventions and programmatic approach present-
ed are also applicable to additional types of brain injuries
(e.g., cerebrovascular accident or anoxia). However, TBI and
nonprogressive brain injuries are emphasized in this book.
Before I go on to describe the content of the book, I would
also like to state a few caveats or potential drawbacks of this
book that deserve mentioning. First, the obvious—this is a
book born out of work with adult clients. Clearly, attempting
to address lifespan issues within neuropsychological reha-
bilitation would have been at the expense of the depth to
which the authors were able to review this area of practice.
Nonetheless, for those of us who do pediatric neuropsychol-
ogy we must read with the ever-present understanding that
children are not simply short adults. It would be in blatant
disregard to all we know about the complexities of the child’s
environment and development to simply apply the tech-
niques presented in this book in a “dummied down” version
to children and their families. However, I do not mean to
suggest that those doing pediatric work need not bother with
BOOK REVIEWS
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the World of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation
doi:10.1017/S1355617710000639
Neuropsychological Rehabilitation: Theory, Models, Therapy and Outcome. Barbara A. Wilson,
Fergus Gracey, Jonathan J. Evans, and Andrew Bateman (Eds.). (2009). New York: Cambridge
University Press, 380 (368) pp., $99.00 (HB) or $79 (eBook).
Reviewed by Shelley C. Heaton, Ph.D. Department of Clinical & Health Psychology, University of
Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.