More About Neuropsychological Evaluation
Purpose of Neuropsychological Evaluation
1. Neuropsychological evaluation can determine whether there is impairment in a person's memory or thinking skills and, if so, what aspects of their thinking skills are impaired.
2. Neuropsychological evaluation can provide information that assists your doctor in identifying the diagnosis, that it, the cause of or contributing factors to any problems that you may be having in your thinking skills.
3. Neuropsychological evaluation can provide recommendations for treatment of any problems in memory or thinking skills that a person has.
Issues for Which Neuropsychological Evaluation May be Useful
*Traumatic Brain Injury
*Multiple Sclerosis
*Stroke
*Learning Disability
*Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
*Neurodegenerative Disorder (e.g. dementia)
*Memory Loss: Sometimes it is a matter of a person experiencing problems with their memory- or other aspects of their thinking such as concentration or judgement- but there is not a clear reason for the problems. There actually are many things- besides those listed just above- that can contribute to memory, concentration, and other thinking problems; examples include various medical conditions (such as sleep apnea, high blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid disorder, migraines), depression, anxiety, psychological trauma, prescription medications, pain, and substance abuse.
Here are two more points about the issues for which neuropsychological evaluation can be helpful:
- It is common for people to be dissatisfied with their memory, so it isn't necessarily indicative of a serious problem. This includes that it can be difficult to tell the difference between normal age-related inefficiencies in memory versus actual impairment in memory. Neuropsychological evaluation is usually effective in drawing conclusions as to whether memory or other thinking problems reflect normal aging or something beyond that.
- It can also occur that the person who is having memory or other thinking problems is not aware of it, but family, friends, or the medical provider feel the person is having those problems.
About Dr. Trueblood
Education
Bachelor's Degree in psychology, completed at Western Washington University, 1975
Master's Degree in clinical psychology, completed at Washington State University, 1981
Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology, completed at Washington State University, 1984
Board Certification
American Board of Professional Neuropsychology, since 1993
Professional/ Clinical Experience
Sepulveda Veteran's Administration Medical Center. Sepulveda, CA. Internship 1982-1983
Golden Triangle Mental Health Center. Havre, MT. 1983-1984
Presbyterian Hospital, Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Program. Oklahoma City, OK. 1984-1986
Penrose Hospital, Eleanor Capron Rehabilitation Institute. Colorado Springs, CO. 1986-1989
Private Neuropsychology practice, Colorado Springs, CO 1989-1995
Private Neuropsychology practice. Bend, OR 1995- Present
Research/ Publications
It's been some years now since I have had time to do any neuropsychological research, but I did publish five neuropsychological studies in the 1990's, including two in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology and two in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. They all were related to mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), which in the 1990's was a very difficult injury to fully understand. Actually, that is still the case today. That is, there continues to be a great deal of research aimed at identifying what factors contribute to some people having substantial problems following MTBI instead of the good (and pretty quick) recovery that most people experience.