Brain Injury Survivors Narratives of Rehabilitation and Healing is written for professionals and students in the medical community. The primary theme of the book is the photovoice project conducted by the author with thirteen brain injury survivors, three of which are discussed in detail in the book.
The stated purposes of the manuscript were to help the author gain an understanding of brain injury survivor's experiences living with their injury, use visual research methods to promote researcher-participant dialogue about those life experiences, uncover new knowledge about personal, community and health-policy issues related to brain injury and to explore how the study's methodology and data could inform clinical and research policy and practice and potentially be applied in therapeutic settings.
I believe she also wanted to dispel the myth, and it is a myth, held by the medical and health insurance communities that the healing process following a brain injury event peaks at six months. She recounts a conversation with the "director of research at a renowned rehabilitation hospital" who told her that it was pointless to do qualitative research with brain injury survivors because "you just keep hearing the same story over again".
Fortunately, she disagrees with the director of research and states, "listening to brain injury survivor stories is not peripheral to policy and practice. Listening to their stories may be essential in policy and practice."
If this book, and it is a big "if", can lead medical professionals to strive toward learning more about the individual circumstances of persons who have suffered a life-changing brain injury, then the author will have made a great contribution. As Beth and I stated in our book, Brain Injury Survivor's Guide, no two brains are exactly alike before a brain injury. The life experiences altered by brain injury differ from person to person. Person-centered rehabilitation, promoted by Ms. Lorenz, is the only therapy regimen that offers the most value to the person who has suffered a physical injury to the brain.
My review of Brain Injury Survivors Narratives of Rehabilitation and Healing comes from my personal perspective of being primary caregiver for over twenty years to a person who suffered an acquired brain injury and having actively participated in dozens of forums within the brain injury community and having exchanged email with dozens of brain injury survivors for several years.
The author ran headfirst into a huge stumbling block in the brain injury community and, though she wrote about the encounter, I am not convinced she saw the wall. Some of her participants did not want to tell people about being a participant in the research. One subject of an entire chapter is referred to as Subject D because the survivor did not want to be identified. The author states, "Perhaps the dissonant nature of his choice enlightens us on what it is like to live with brain injury and to be a research subject." No, his choice to remain anonymous comes from the stigma associated with brain injury and has nothing to do with being a research subject.
Even though brain injury is a physical injury not too terribly unlike a broken arm, it is classified as a mental health issue. The history of mental health treatment throughout the world is not a pretty one. Who wants to be associated with that? While brain injury definitely has neurologic consequences it cannot, for the most part, be treated by psychiatrists and should only be treated by psychologists trained in cognitive therapies from a person-centered planning perspective.
The subjects interviewed by Ms. Lorenz spoke of losing friends and of broken relationships. This, too, is a part of the stigma. The general public treats brain injury as if it's a communicable disease. There is a strong need for accurate information about brain injury to be spread among the populace. At the same time, there is an even stronger need for more accurate information about brain injury to become part and parcel of the medical and health insurance communities.
It is my fervent desire that Ms. Lorenz' book might plant a few seeds that will bear much needed fruit. I will repeat that this book is for the professional community.
