Traumatic Brain Injury: Neuropsychiatric Assessment

American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting
San Francisco, CA
May, 2009

At the conclusion of this course, the participant should be able to perform a competent traumatic brain injury assessment for clinical use in developing a psychiatric treatment plan for the injured patient, or to provide testimony at trial.

This course is designed for practicing psychiatrists who wish to learn up-to-date techniques for the evaluation of traumatic brain injury and subsequent development of a treatment plan for psychopharmacological reduction of cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Secondarily, the course will assist psychiatrists who wish to testify at court regarding traumatic brain injury, but the primary thrust of the course is clinical. The participant will learn the biomechanics and pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury, state of the art techniques for obtaining history, completing mental-status examinations, performing neurological screening, assessing cognitive and behavioral changes, obtaining neuroimaging where indicated, and developing a comprehensive treatment plan and treatment strategies. Actual case examples drawn from a brain injury case library of more than 4,000 evaluations will be used. Participants will be able to take the content of this course directly into their practices, as it has immediate practical application. Moreover, those physicians who wish to upgrade their forensic skills regarding traumatic brain injury assessment will also find the information to be of assistance.

Clinical and Forensic psychiatrists.

The teaching methods will include didactic lecture, LCD Power Point, overhead transparencies, structural and functional brain imaging, actual case reports, mock trial language, and a very extensive teaching syllabus.

Liberal time for attendee participation and dialogue is included, and questions and answers are a core part of the teaching process. Further study after course completion is required before one can implement all of the techniques that will be presented.

Hour 1:
Biomechanics of Brain Injury
Pathophysiology and epidemiology of Brain Trauma

Hour 2:
Traumatic Brain Injury Neuropsychiatric Syndromes in Adults
Traumatic Brain Injury Psychiatric Syndromes in Adults
Traumatic Brain Injury and Neuropsychiatric Sequelae in Children

Hour 3:
Neuroimaging in Relation to Neuropsychological Outcome
Establishing Neuropsychiatric Deficits
Pharmacotherapy for Traumatic Brain Injury

Lunch

Hour 4:
Psychotherapy
The "Bell Curve" and its Applications to Psychological Deficits

Hour 5:
Case Analysis of Brain-Injured Patients

Hour 6:
Case Analysis of Brain-Injured Patients

This is a basic course. No previous experience or knowledge is required.

60