What is the nature of a memory, thinking or cognitive impairment problem?
As a PhD neuropsychologist, I have conducted hundreds of memory, thinking and cognitive impairment evaluations in the Tucson area, and beyond, for over 20 years. Part of my original training included assessing cognitive impairment during my residency at Shands Hospital (Gainesville, FL), a widely respected teaching hospital.
Memory and thinking problems can be caused by a wide array of issues. These kinds of problems can often be grouped under the term cognitive impairment. These issues include medical problems, ADHD, learning problems, emotional issues, trauma, age-related memory deterioration or head injuries. Memory and thinking problems can also be caused by lack of sleep and higher levels of anxiety or stress.
Because there are multitude of reasons that could be causing a memory or thinking problem, it is vital that you use a highly trained neuropsychologist who will efficiently narrow down the list of possible causes. Specifically, you need an experienced neuropsychologist who will start out by casting the widest net so no factors are missed. Remember, memory or thinking issues are often caused by more than one singular factor.
I am a highly experienced PhD neuropsychologist who will not only identify the causes of the memory, thinking or cognitive impairment issues, but will provide you with the most evidence-based ways to correct and/or minimize these mentally impairing issues. This often requires careful review of medical records which Dr. Brunner has over 20 years of experience doing. In fact, part of his original training was at the University of Florida’s Shands Hospital where psychological and medical specialties worked seamlessly together as collaborative teams.
Assessment of your memory or thinking problems requires a neuropsychologist who has deep experience acting as a rigorous detective to assess both medical and psychological issues that may be both contributing to the memory or thinking problem.
What conditions that can cause memory, thinking or cognitive impairment problems has Dr. Brunner evaluated?
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Sleep apnea
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Stroke
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Hypothyroidism
- Vitamin deficiences
- Medication related issues
- Concussion
- Aging
- Chronic stress
- Mental overload or burnout
Reasons to consider a Memory, Thinking or Cognitive impairment evaluation:
- Forgetting basic information you usually never forget such as someone’s name who you know well
- Major struggle to learn something new
- Regularly losing track of what you are doing
- Trouble remembering things you have already learned
- Sudden changes in memory as well as becoming much more emotional at the same time
- Regularly forgetting where you put things
- Struggling to keep up with personal hygiene, such as brushing teeth or showering, due to lack of motivation
What does a memory or thinking assessment clarify?
- What combination of factors are contributing to these issues
- The severity of your symptoms
- What lifestyle changes you can make to minimize or correct these problems
- What combination of scientifically based treatments will help you the most
- What kinds of mental strengths do you have that you can use in order to best address any mental weaknesses
- What accommodations might you need as a student or an employee so you can perform at your very best
- What kinds of tactics can you use in order to learn new information as efficiently as possible
- How does the memory or thinking problem interact with your general personality
- What are the most credible information resources you can draw from
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What are the hidden realities of memory, thinking or cognitive impairment conditions?
- Cognitive processing problems can be caused by emotional issues that can go away once those emotional issues are dealt with
- While memory decline can be expectable due to the aging process, there are evidence-based tactics you can use to slow down memory decline
- There are a lot of non-scientific and ineffective, but highly marketed methods people mistakenly use where they end up spending thousands of dollars with no benefit
- Many people who have PTSD, trauma, learning or other types of problems are misdiagnosed as having memory or thinking problems
How do I go beyond generic memory, thinking or cognitive impairment diagnosis?
Many clinicians narrowly focus on memory or thinking diagnoses and forget that your mental processing problems may be intimately connected to dynamics in your unique personality. To avoid generically labeling you, I use what I call a Dynamic Mind Mapping (DMM) approach where I draw a visual map of the key factors affecting your mental performance. This way, you gain a crisp and clear understanding of what factors are in play and how they interact with each other. This allows you to feel confident about what you need to do next, thereby removing your anxiety.
Another way I go beyond the generic medical model is I not only identify the mental problems you are experiencing, but I also make sure to clarify what mental and personality strengths you can use to most tactically attack those mental processing problems. Read my blog: Great psychological assessment goes far beyond diagnosis.
How do I assess memory, thinking or cognitive processing problems?
I am known as a clinician who takes as much time as needed to be rigorously methodical so nothing is missed. Too many healthcare practitioners make you feel like you are on a conveyor belt, where you receive a “drive-by” evaluation. I offer you the opposite experience. We build into our assessment system numerous checks and balances to ensure our ultimate diagnosis is accurate. After having evaluated over 1,000 people in the last 20 years, I know there is an incredible amount of misdiagnosis. Feel free to read my blogs where I discuss the difference between great and average assessment.
What are the elements of my assessment process?
- Methodically gathering historical information in 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 we 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 are evaluating
- Reviewing this information together during the intake appointment, and beginning to develop hypotheses that we 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 devil’s 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 my 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, we 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 my work has met your expectations, and/or to provide further consultations to make sure my work is resulting in the life changes you are seeking.