“Should be an authoritative reference on the book shelf of all clinicians providing psychotherapeutic services to persons who sustain acquired brain injuries (ABI) and their families. It distills more than thirty years of clinical and research experience into a narrative that stimulates fruitful reflection on clinical issues. It also practically addresses a variety of difficult clinical problems, and provides practical thoughts on how to effectively address them….Clinicians of all disciplines will find this volume to be a wonderful read that reflects both existential roots and many practical ideas that will assist the clinician in helping patients with ABI to maximize their sense of well-being early on in recovery and as a life-long developmental process.”

—Brain Injury Professional


“Ruff and Chester bring to this book a great deal of clinical wisdom, based on both many years of experience and what has obviously been a great deal of thoughtful reflection on the process….The central theme of the book, maintaining hope for what one can change while at the same time facilitating acceptance for what one cannot, is a critical issue upon which all psychotherapists should regularly reflect. In addition, the book is peppered with both thought-provoking reflections on such topics as the importance of emotions in our lives and gems of clinical wisdom on how best to deal with specific issues that arise, such as the tasks the therapist should address when working as part of an interdisciplinary team versus on his or her own.”

—PsycCRITIQUES


“The limited utility of traditional psychotherapy for brain injury survivors leads most clinicians to only superficially address important emotional, social, and behavioral injury sequelae. This valuable book equips readers with practical techniques to better help survivors manage anxiety, depression, and anger, while learning to accept their new reality and rebuild their lives in meaningful ways. The senior author, Ruff, is a rare neuropsychologist who is as committed to psychotherapy as he is to assessment. He shares clinical wisdom acquired over three decades in a text that will become an integral part of our rehabilitation neuropsychology training program.”

—Richard Wanlass, PhD, Chief Psychologist/Clinical Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of California, Davis, Medical Center


“Ruff and Chester show that helping patients with acquired brain injury effectively cope with their post-injury emotional problems is as important as any service clinical neuropsychologists provide. This resource will be helpful in the training of clinical neuropsychologists and other clinicians. It offers clear information on the neuroanatomy of emotional control, as well as describing in some detail what patients experience when their neuropsychological recovery is incomplete. The authors provide many useful suggestions for conducting psychotherapy with these patients.”

—George P. Prigatano, PhD, ABPP, Emeritus Chair of Clinical Neuropsychology, Barrow Neurological Institute


“The cascade of emotional, behavioral, and existential issues routinely set in motion by stroke, brain injury, and dementia can and must not be ignored by neuropsychologists and other health care providers. Ruff and Chester's sorely needed book sheds a very bright yet warmly compassionate light on this too often invisible realm of human suffering. The book distills decades of thoughtful and empathic psychotherapeutic work with brain injury survivors.”

—Jonathan Mueller, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco