What is Clinical Neuropsychology?

Neuropsychology is a specialty area within the profession of psychology which focuses on how to understand and explain the effects of the brain on behavior, thinking and emotion.

Clinical Neuropsychologists have training and experience in evaluation and understanding the effects of injuries or illnesses of the brain on one's capacity to think, learn, solve problems, communicate, remember, behave and cope emotionally.

• For example, such trauma may occur after an automobile accident, assault, sports injury or military incident in which the individual has sustained a concussion or more severe injuries.  They will often have had a period of lost consciousness and/or memory.  (Recent examples of injuries sustained by troops in the wars against terrorism are an example, with the brain injuries coming from shootings, falls, the effect of sound wave blasts or other problems.
  

• Neurological (of the brain) illnesses and medical conditions may include cerebro-vascular accidents, such as strokes; cerebral aneurysms, and arterio-venous malformations; seizure disorders; tumors; or  progressive dementias, such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

• Neuropsychologists also help with understanding the effects on cognition (thinking, learning and remembering) and behavior from other immune system related illnesses, such as Lyme disease or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis.
  

•   Persons with educational or learning difficulties, such as adults who think they may have an Attention Deficit Disorder, often also may benefit from a neuropsychological evaluation.

In many of these cases, the individual who suffers the neurologic trauma or illness may be finding that she or he cannot think as quickly, remember or learn new things as easily, recall where s/he put things, or deal with day to day life as easily as before the incident. 

Some such problems are called cognitive deficits, the word cognitive meaning thinking-related.  Other problems may seem more related to changes in the individual's personality or emotional functioning, which can also occur due to brain injury or illness. 

NEXT: What is the Neuropsychological evaluation?

All information on this page written by and all rights reserved by Howard Mangel, EdD.  Please do not use this information for uses other than your own education.