Lisa Genova’s Left Neglected examines the shock of a substantial brain injury on a woman whose mind never stops running. Sarah Nickerson suffers from hemispatial neglect syndrome, which resulted from a severe car accident. Throughout this analysis, I will consider how Sarah’s life after her injury differs from her past, identify the major themes presented by Genova that coincide with Sarah’s trauma, and reflect on how Sarah’s account of brain injury changed my understanding of brain function, injury, and recovery. Initially, I will explore Sarah’s life before and after her injury. Prior to her accident, Sarah Nickerson had a polished life. She received a top-notch education from Harvard University and married her husband, Bob Nickerson. …show more content…
The main difference between Sarah’s life before and after the accident involved normality; therefore, one of the brain’s main functions may be to ensure that life is as normal as possible. As shown in Sarah’s life before the accident, people usually do not have to think about performing seemingly simple tasks, such as reading the newspaper. In Sarah’s post-accident case, however, she could not recognize the words on a left side of a book that she was reading to her daughter. Due to damage from the injury, a once simple task for Sarah is now a challenge. Another major theme identified in the book related to brain function is that the brain is involved in a variety of tasks, such as motor movements and coordination, sensory information, and learning. This is evident in Sarah’s life before and after her injury. For example, due to Sarah’s left neglect, she could not recognize the position of her left side of her body for walking, and she also could not see the left side of her body. For brain injury, Genova indicated that damage to structures of the brain affects function. Since Sarah’s left side of her body was affected, her right hemisphere was damaged (i.e., the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice-versa). The brain bleed Sarah experienced must have affected certain structures in the right hemisphere, but the brain is capable of healing. Presumably, this is …show more content…
Prior to reading this book, I understood that brain structure and function are related; however, I did not realize how damage to the brain could have such widespread, yet restrained, effects. Sarah’s ability to use the entire left side of her body in movement and sensation was greatly compromised by a brain bleed and damage to the right side of her brain, meaning that different structures must have been affected by the damage; however, Sarah is still able to use the left side of her body if she recognizes it is there and concentrates on using it. With brain injury, I did not realize the extent to which injuries differ. Injuries can occur in different scenarios, such as a car accident, and impact all aspects of life, depending on the severity. The difference between whether an injury hinders or disables a person from performing a function lies in where the damage is done and how tremendous the impact is. Sarah’s injury did not disable her from a task such as seeing, but it did hinder her ability to see anything on or surrounding the left side of her body without concentration. In addition, I was unaware of the existence of hemispatial neglect syndrome. It is an interesting concept because although Sarah still had to ability to see and use the left side of her body with concentration, seeing
The symptoms of a right-hemisphere stroke are very much similar like the symptoms Mr. Fix-it is experiencing. For example, both suggest that functions on the left side of the body are completely neglected; therefore, the left visual section of the body does not respond effectively to stimuli due to the neglect. Damage to the right occipital lobe is very likely. The patient may have experienced some damage to areas 18 and 19 of the occipital lobe. “Damage to these association areas resulted in the patient’s failure to recognize items even when they have been seen before”, such as Mr. Fix-it’s deficiency to recognize geometric shapes (Carlson, 2010). Moreover, the patient could have also experience damage in the frontal lobe, specifically on area 8, in which it could have r...
I intend to explore the effects of a parietal brain injury from the perspective of a neuropsychologist; ranging from types of tests that are employed when trying to determine the extent of the damage, to gaining an understanding of how this damage will affect the rest of the brain and/or the body. I will also explore the effects of a brain injury from the perspective of the family members, and their experiences with the changes that occur during the rehabilitation process. According to The Neuropsychology Center, “neuropsychological assessment is a systematic clinical diagnostic procedure used to determine the extent of any possible behavioral deficits following diagnosed or suspected brain injury”(www.neuropsych.com). As mentioned previously, a brain injury can be the result of many types of injuries or disorders, thus a broad range of assessment procedures have been developed to encompass these possibilities.
The brain is an incredibly complex organ, but also vulnerable to damage from outside forces. “Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death, especially in young adults, and a major cause of disability” (Mayer, 2005, p. 483). Accidents can result in forces that jar the skull, causing the brain to strike the skull walls causing bruising or hemorrhaging. In some cases, swelling can lead to herniation in the brain and restricted blood flow that can lead to cognitive impairment. In more severe cases, the result is either a vegetative state or death. Two scales used to measure the severity of TBI are the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), which measures from 3 being comatose to 15 indicating minor trauma based on eye, verbal, and motor responses, and the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), whose last number indicates severity from 1, which indicates minor injury, to 6, indicating certain death. Violence, car accidents, work accidents, and sports injuries are well known causes of TBI.
Tragedy strikes at every hour of the day, no matter where in the world a person lives. The true test of a person’s humanity is how they handle the tragedy. All over the country, people are hit with life changing catastrophes and feel hopeless. Taking their feelings out on others around them who are just trying to help, their pain translates into the bad traits of humanity such as selfishness, conceitedness and unreliability. Others though, work through their struggles and show the world how strong they can really be. People in terrible situations can also be mature, self-confident and sympathetic. It all really depends on the individual going through the tragedy. Many authors also play on this fact when they write their novels. For example, in Tatiana De Rosnay’s novel Sarah’s Key, De Rosnay’s characters go through some very powerful and personal struggles. Some characters put their best foot forward but others close up and only look out for themselves. Although people go through horrible personal tragedies, some people bring out the best traits in human nature and some bring out the worst.
"How Tatiana De Rosnay Turned French History Into ‘Sarah’s Key’." Speakeasy RSS. N.p., 14 July 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
The concussion was what had caused her short-term memory loss, and she had to relearn how to do almost everything that people do on a daily basis, such as talking, spelling and writing, just to name a few. As an art teacher, it was devastating for her not being able to simply use her hands. She even had to attend physical therapy and learn exercises to strengthen her brain again.
The effects of trauma on the functioning of the brain is an expanding subject of research and treatment. Trauma can change the chemistry of the brain and disrupt normal human functioning. Information in this section has been taken from the works of Judith Lewis Hermann, MD, Robert Scaer,
The cerebrum mainly controls the person’s language ability and the left prefrontal cortex is mainly responsible for self-control and decision making (Weiten, 2014), and also personality traits and organization of emotional reactions (Prefrontal Cortex, 2015). Gage only acquired damage to these parts of his brain. Other daily functions such as movement and his basic living processes were unharmed. The damage done to his prefrontal cortex somewhat resembled a lobotomy procedure. A lobotomy is a procedure that severs the connections between the lobes of the frontal lobe of the brain (Lewis, 2013). The tampering iron practically performed a lobotomy on Gage’s frontal lobe when it diagonally pierced his left
Jennifer is a 9 year old child who was injured while riding her bicycle. She was hit by a car and suffered several broken bones and traumatic brain injury. While her bones healed, she suffered bruising to her brain. This bruising also caused swelling and damage to her brain. When Jennifer was released from the hospital, she has difficulties speaking, walking, and completing tasks that used to come easily to her.
Based upon previous knowledge of brain function, what results from the testing were consistent with a brain injury?
A 23-year-old man, named Ryan Godfrey was observed in his everyday behaviors to understand how he deals with frontal lobe damage. When he was 7 years, old the doctors discovered a grapefruit size benign meningioma tumor in his brain. After this, he had six more surgeries and his last one left him paralyzed on his left side. This was because most of his tumors were found in the right hemisphere, prefrontal cortex with his last surgery towards the premotor and motor cortex causing his paralysis. Ryan overcame being paralyzed with a desire to play basketball and video games. Today he is running sound for church, working full time and helping with student ministries. People like him can benefit from understanding the brain and its functions.
A tampering rod through the head is how 25-year-old Phineas Gage became the most notable case of Traumatic Brain injury of the 19th century. With more than 1.7 million people each year who sustain an injury, why does this one case become so interesting? The reason behind this is the result of the injury. When Gage had the tampering rod penetrate his skull it completely changed his personality. From a once mild mannered individual to a foul mouth and persistent person, Gage became interesting cases in history. Gage starts us off with our topic of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) because in the US there are around 50,000 deaths, 270,000 hospitalizations, and 1.36 million who are treated and released to go home (Alzheimers Organization, 2014). A TBI is defined when an external mechanical force causes brain dysfunction.
The brain has four major lobes. The frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the occipital lobe, and temporal lobe are responsible for all of the activities of the body, from seeing, hearing, tasting, to touching, moving, and even memory. After many years of debating, scientist presents what they called the localization issue, Garret explains how Fritsch and Hitzig studied dog with conforming observations, but the cases of Phineas Gage’s accident in 1848 and Paul Broca’s autopsy of a man brain in 1861 really grabbed the attention of an enthusiastic scientific community (Garret 2015 p.6)
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
Everyone has heard the horror stories of brain injuries and the great damages they cause. There are fundraisers and foundation set up to help the people who struggle from such injuries. However, there are patients who suffer from very similar symptoms that don’t receive the same attention and help. These patients are the ones that suffer from mental illnesses. People don’t see mental illnesses as being as severe as brain injuries. In the book Descartes’ Error, the author Antonio Damasio believes people with brain injuries get more help and attention than patient with mental illnesses because the their damages can be seen from the outside. It is obvious to see something is wrong with them, whereas the mental illnesses patients’ damages only