Is Mental Work the Same as Exercise?

This entry is part 5 of 4 in the series Psychology Today - Fatigue and Brain Injury

Increasing mental work while not decreasing physical exercise commensurately was a really bad idea after brain injury. This lesson no one taught me. NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month—is a month of writing every single day in November to create a 50,000-word novel. This writing community and event includes anyone, no matter your ability; it releases your…

What Makes Reading Enjoyable?

This entry is part 4 of 3 in the series Psychology Today - Reading and Brain Injury

I believed in reading strategies because I believed in my therapist—until I finally had to admit they were an illusion. I sat opposite my therapist, focusing effortfully on her lesson. She was teaching me how to read post-concussion using strategies: highlighters to highlight words I needed to remember; pens to write notes in the margins…

Cognitive Empathy For Reading Loss After Brain Injury

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Psychology Today - Reading and Brain Injury

Cognitive empathy lets you imagine a client’s experience, puts yourself in their shoes, and act accordingly. How you can use it to help restore reading post concussion. Dr. Brian Goldman, a Toronto ER doctor and host of White Coat Black Art on CBC Radio, was on CBC Radio’s Ontario Today at noon, Friday, May 4,…

Reading Loss: The Genesis of Grief, The Seed of PTSD

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Psychology Today - Reading and Brain Injury

You don’t know the grief of brain injury until you hear a gentle, compassionate voice drop the devastating news that you can’t read while you’re holding your usual paperback. You never know how brain injury will play out over time. What you think at first is mild becomes worse and worse. Biochemical changes wreak hidden…

Pain Focus in Medicine

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Because medical professionals focus on pain rather than healing its cause, patients learn to talk about pain in order to get help.