Many people do not understand the vital role that neuropsychologists play in precisely assessing neurological conditions. In this section I am going to educate you on the following 8 topics:
Table of Contents
1. What is the difference between a medical neurologist and a neuropsychologist
A medical neurologist can clarify whether there have been electrical, biochemical or structural changes in the physical status of the brain. This is done through different types of assessments the neurologist conducts, which may include a CAT scan or an MRI of the brain.
But what many people often want to know is “How is this neurological issue going to affect my thinking, memory, emotions or behavior?”. This is where the neuropsychologist plays the vital role. There is no one who has more expertise in answering this question than a neuropsychologist.
2. What is distinctive about what a neuropsychologist can do for you?
What makes neuropsychologists distinctive is that they can objectively measure how specific brain systems translate into real world thinking, feeling and behavior. So while medical neurologists help you understand how your brain may have undergone physical changes, neuropsychologists help you understand the actual impact of those physical changes on your day-to-day functioning.
Neuropsychologists administer tests that precisely assess very specific types of mental functioning. The field of neuropsychology has developed over 100 different types of tests to assess attention, concentration, analytical ability, memory and processing speed.
In fact, neuropsychologists are experts in understanding that humans have over 50 different types of memory. This is vital when you are trying to figure out what kind of impact a neurological condition is having on the various types of memory you rely on every day to get things done
A neuropsychologist is THE expert in clarifying how any medical changes to the brain are affecting your thinking, memory, emotional or behavioral functioning
3. How do neuropsychologists play a vital role in the assessment of neurological conditions? They…
- Provide a detailed assessment of your cognitive functioning so even subtle changes are detected
- Allow you to proactively treat a subtle change in your mental functioning before it becomes more severe
- Provide the most advanced assessment of key mental functions such as memory, attention and concentration, language abilities, executive functioning and processing speed
- Help differentiate disorders that on the surface look similar, such as depression and memory loss
- Detect subtle brain changes before brain imaging does. Often times, medically based brain image techniques such as an MRI will not detect a change in brain functioning that CAN be detected through a neuropsychological assessment
4. Types of and most common neurological disorders
The most common neurological disorders include migraines, tension type headaches, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
There are approximately five different types of neurological disorders, falling into the following categories. They are as follows:
- Seizure and electrical brain disorders include epilepsy and febrile seizures
- Developmental neurological conditions include autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and cerebral palsy
- Movement and neuromuscular disorders include essential tremor, dystonia, multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis
- Peripheral nerve disorders include peripheral neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome and sciatica
- Neurodegenerative disorders include Huntington’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and Lewy Body dementia
5. What does a medical or genetic neuropsychological assessment clarify?
- How your neurological condition is currently negatively impacting your day-to-day mental or emotional functioning
- How you can use specific mental or personality strengths in order to minimize the negative impact of the medical or genetic condition
- What daily habits you should develop in order to maximize your daily physical and mental functioning
- How is your current baseline of functioning allowing you to overtime track any deterioration or improvement
- Allow you to identify strategies you can use that go beyond simply using medication. Remember: medications do not teach you new skills but a neuropsychological assessment identifies skills you can develop to improve your mental functioning
- Help you develop a specific roadmap to return to work if you’re currently impaired by a neurological condition
- Identify specific educational or workplace accommodations that you deserve to have given a medical condition you have, based on the captain Americans with Disabilities Act
- Identify the level of disability that can then allow you to receive Social Security benefits
- If your neurological problems are due to a personal injury, a neuropsychological assessment can clarify the specific ways the personal injury has diminished your mental or emotional capacity, allowing you to potentially receive a personal injury settlement in the form of a monetary reward
6. What are the hidden realities of neurological conditions?
- A mental performance problems such as not being able to remember things could look like a neurological problem like Alzheimer’s, but could actually be caused by problems with ADHD, anxiety or depression
- Depression can cause people to struggle to do things as quickly as they were able to previously, but many people never consider the role that a psychological condition like depression can play
- ADHD can sometimes cause dramatic problems with a variety of mental processes that cause people to run to the medical doctor to get checked out. Meanwhile, they forget that a neuropsychologist can play a vital role in helping them assess whether their mental issues are medical versus psychologically caused
- Neurological conditions commonly cause emotional, behavioral or memory related problems that can be rectified using evidence-based psychological tactics
- Psychological interventions have been proven to be incredibly effective with decreasing the negative impact of various types of neurological conditions
- If a neurological condition is severe enough, a neuropsychological disability evaluation can offer the individual the opportunity to have the benefit of receiving Social Security disability benefits
7. How do I go beyond generic evaluation or neurological conditions?
Many psychological clinicians narrowly focus on making diagnoses and then they consider their job to be done. But my clients have told me for over 20 years that when they just are given a diagnosis it feels very impersonal and transactional. That is why over the last two decades I’ve developed an approach where I help a person see exactly how their medical or genetic condition is interacting with their personality.
I do this by developing a dynamic mind map. This map clarifies key factors affecting your functioning and shows how certain factors interact with other factors. That way you gain a clear understanding of what is going on in your mind and body. You also gain a clear understanding of how to effectively combat current problems you are suffering from.
Feel free to read my blog about how Great psychological assessment goes far beyond diagnosis.
8. What are the elements of my assessment process?
- Methodically gathering historical information the following categories: family history, birth, development, medical, neurological, educational, learning, emotional, behavioral, social, and academic or work performance
- Asking you to create a chronological timeline of important events to ensure I understand the life of the person being evaluated as a series of different stages. This is critical to get a nuanced, in-depth understanding for the person I am evaluating
- Reviewing this information together during the intake appointment, and beginning to develop hypotheses that I will scientifically review by collecting data.
- Interviewing the people who have the most intimate knowledge of the day-to-day functioning of the person being evaluated. Unlike practitioners who only collect information from the person being evaluated, or only their parents, I believe that collecting this additional perspectives is vital to establishing a confident and credible diagnosis.
- Choosing a tailored group of measurements that include self-report questionnaires, intelligence or cognitive tests, and personality measures that identify your predominating characteristics
- Rigorously testing different hypotheses designed to play devils advocate to test our perception of the situation, and following up with questions to either the person being evaluated or those who know the person best.
- Writing a report tailored to the exact needs of the situation. I specialize in customizing your report to address different situations, such as the need for workplace or educational accommodations.
- Conducting a feedback meeting in our conference room where I use a dry erase board to visually show you the important factors causing the problems the person being evaluated is experiencing. I call this our cognitive map, and it serves as a user-friendly roadmap. You can take a picture of and always have your roadmap with you for guidance.
- During the feedback meeting, I clarify the diagnostic conditions at play, the non-diagnostic but critical factors contributing to problems, and give you bullet-point, user-friendly recommendations, organized into thematic groups. I clarify what professionals can best serve you, and save you the most money and time.
- After this feedback meeting, I follow-up with you to make sure that our work has met your expectations, and/or to provide further consultations to make sure our work is resulting in the life changes you are seeking.