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Clinical Neuropsychology Services offered by Chartered Psychologists

2.1 Head Injury (Adults) - Assessment
2.2 Head Injury (Adults) - Treatment and Rehabilitation

Head injuries result from a variety of causes: road traffic accidents, occupational and sports injuries, domestic accidents and personal assault. They may range from mild injuries involving no loss of consciousness to severe states associated with coma for a prolonged period. Psychological changes, with social and occupational effects, occur very commonly in more serious cases, but can also follow relatively minor head injury.

2.3 Neurological Disease (Adults) - Assessment
2.4 Neurological Disease (Adults) - Treatment and Rehabilitation

Treatment & Rehabilitation: Most diseases of the brain have psychological consequences. The most common are cerebrovascular accidents (strokes and cerebral haemorrhage) and tumours (cancer) of the brain, but there are also degenerating conditions of the nervous system (e.g. MS). Neuropsychologists are concerned not only with the psychological effects of the disease, but also with the side-effects of drug treatment, neurosurgery or radiotherapy, which may save the patient's life but have psychological consequences.

Disorders of childhood are a specialized field within neuropsychology because of the developing nature of the growing brain. Children suffer both head injuries and diseases of the nervous system (see above) but the effects may be different from those seen in adults. In addition, certain developmental disorders which affect specific abilities (e.g. dyslexia, spelling difficulties) may become apparent during childhood, as may the syndrome of autism.

Congenital disorders are strictly those present from conception, but may include others acquired before and during birth. A number of forms of learning difficulties result from congenital conditions of the brain, as do cerebral palsy and spasticity.

A serious problem which affects many elderly people is cerebral dementia: loss of mental faculties in advanced age. Other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, are also more common in older age groups. The diagnosis and management of these conditions, together with the effects of head injury and neurological disease, is a specialized field within neuropsychology.
Each of the above are subdivided into:

Assessment
The use of psychological tests and other assessment procedures to determine the current level of intellectual functioning of an individual, or the present state of an individual's personality or life skills. Clinical neuropsychologists offering services for assessment of any of the above categories of disorder should be able to report the likelihood that a given disorder is present, the degree to which psychological functions have been affected, the likely course of the disorder, and to make preliminary recommendations about psychological management and treatment of the disorder.

Treatment and Rehabilitation
Neuropsychologists who offer treatment or rehabilitation services for any of the above categories of disorder will be able to undertake procedures which will improve the psychological condition and functioning of a given client (or relieve the advance of progressive illnesses). They may treat not only the direct effects of the injury or disease, but also anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, low self esteem, and anger or instability arising out of the condition. They may recommend other treatments and forms of management which can be expected to benefit the patient.

Some forms of brain damage and disease produce very drastic changes in the sufferer's personal and social behaviour. In certain cases the individual may become untypically aggressive, or may develop personal habits or forms of behaviour which make caring for the individual within the family impossible with any degree of normal social life. The care of clients with severe abnormalities of behaviour, and the treatment of these conditions, is the speciality of certain neuropsychologists.