The Ghost in My Brain

The Ghost in My Brain: How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back MP3 CD – Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
Author: Clark Elliott Ph.D. ID: 1501230417

Review

“This is a remarkable document, by a remarkable person,  the most meticulous and informative account I have ever read of the effects of a traumatic brain injury on a single mind. It should be mined for years to come by all who care about the subject, and is filled with almost Proustian detail about how the brain and mind and heart respond to injury.  It would have been just another tragedy, but instead, it turns into an exciting triumph, because of the tireless, ingenious, and utterly creative work of Clark Elliott and his healers—one inspired by the work of the Israeli pioneer, Reuven Feurstein, the other by a little known tradition of neuro-optometric rehabilitation, which can literally use light shone into the eyes, to treat and rewire the brain.”—Norman Doidge, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of The Brain That Changes Itself and The Brain’s Way of Healing  

“For anyone who has struggled to explain cognition or to understand what it feels like to suffer from traumatic brain injury, Clark Elliott’s fascinating account of his injury, diagnosis and then painstaking determination to heal himself reads like a how-to manual of how our brains work . . . His story gives hope to everyone out there and shines a light on the neuroplastic possibilities that exist for us all in the future.”—Bob Woodruff, ABC-TV News correspondent and Lee Woodruff, authors of In an Instant

“Elliott’s transformative tale will be invaluable for patients with traumatic brain injury, families, and caregivers.”—Publishers Weekly

“Up-close view of living with the harrowing effects of a concussion… With concussions from sports injuries making the news, Elliott’s easy-to-read account of his experiences is a valuable contribution to a better understanding of the condition.”—Kirkus
 
“It is not often that one can gain some genuine insight into the soul-destroying and debilitating experiential world of victims of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI). But through the brilliant descriptions that Clark Elliott provides, we can at least begin to grasp its devastating perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral consequences—its profound disruption of every aspect of normal daily life, of thinking and deciding, feeling and wanting, seeing and hearing, moving, and of our very sense of who we are. This is an extraordinary book about the brain and the mind—a book that is hard to stop reading.”—Andrew Ortony, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Computer Science, and Education, Northwestern University
 
“Inspiring . . . Read it, first weep, then smile broadly!”—Daniel Federman, Dean Emeritus, Harvard School of Medical Education, and past president of the American College of Physicians
 
“A must-read for anyone in emergency medicine, trauma care, neurology, and primary care, as well as concussion sufferers and their families.”—Ted C. Shieh, clinical instructor in emergency medicine, RUSH Medical College; chairman of emergency medicine and immediate care, DuPage Medical Group
 
“I have diagnosed more than six hundred mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) cases over thirty years of practice and know firsthand the devastating effects they can have on virtually any family. Dr. Clark Elliott’s comprehensive and creative analysis of this pathological epidemic is uniquely insightful, accurate, scary—and most importantly encouraging—for those who are afflicted with this disorder.”—Michael P. Szatalowicz, D.C., A.O., whiplash trauma specialist

From the Hardcover edition. –This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Clark Elliott, Ph.D., has been a professor of artificial intelligence at DePaul University for twenty-seven years. He holds three teaching certificates for music; B.M. and M.M. (music) and M.S. (computer science) degrees; and a Ph.D. from Northwesterns Institute for the Learning Sciences with an emphasis on computer simulations of human emotion. He lives with his wife and daughter in Evanston, Illinois. He has raised four other children, studies tai chi and music every day, and continues as a casual marathon runner.

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MP3 CDPublisher: Brilliance Audio; 1 MP3 Una edition (June 2, 2015)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1501230417ISBN-13: 978-1501230417 Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 6.8 inches Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #479,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #682 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Neurology > Neuroscience #1626 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Alternative Medicine > Healing #4265 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Other Diets
Many people keep diaries of their illnesses. An articulate and conscientious diarist stricken with an odd condition can be fascinating and insightful. After Clark Elliott, an artificial intelligence researcher at DePaul University in Chicago, suffered a traumatic brain injury in 1999, he kept a detailed journal of his mental impairment and his efforts to cope. He functioned in his job and social life with great difficulty, sometimes not at all, for 8 years before finding relief through neuro-optometric rehabilitation and cognitive restructuring therapy. His meticulous documentation allowed him to write "The Ghost In My Brain" to help others understand how the thoughts and life of a person with traumatic brain injury function -or don’t function- and to share his remarkable recovery. His road to recovery was not short. It took years of work with optometrist Deborah Zelinsky and neurocognitive learning specialist Donalee Markus, before he could function near his pre-accident level.

Elliott presents his story in four parts. In the first, he describes the consequences of his 1999 car accident, in which he was rear-ended while sitting at a stoplight and came away with a brain injury that would dramatically alter his way of life. He describes the symptoms of his brain injury, in detail, in ten chapters in Part 2. We get a sense of what specific impairments he suffered and the bizarre manner in which his damaged brain tried to function.
The Ghost in My Brain is a thoughtful look into the debilitating affects a brain injury can cause a person of even great intellect. I found this book at times frustrating, emotional and thought-provoking.
It can basically be broken into two parts.
The emotional story. One in which the author expresses in great detail the turmoil he experienced as he suffered trying to do daily activities we all take for granted. It also demonstrates how modern medicine seems to coldly dismiss those who are deemed healthy because they cannot find any real physical evidence of it of a physical problem. Although the author appeared healthy after his car accident. He struggled to do the most basic things such as walk down stairs or drive home from work. He was not malingering (pretending to be sick), Yet in the many visits he made to doctors, they dismissed his concerns and did not take the time to look deeper. Sad and discouraging.
The second part of the book which I found far more intriguing was how he finally did find help and the process or new science of brain plasticity. It shows that there is more out there which is unexplored. I enjoyed reading about brain plasticity. How we can re-learn how to function by creating new neural connections even when we are older. I wish this could have been explained a bit more. Although the author does try to explain, it was more through his experiences but not as much the theories behind it.
This book will give hope to those seeking answers to changes they have experienced post brain injuries and help others suffering with them understand/sympathize with the debilitating affects they can cause. Just reading about the difficulties the author experienced driving home were frustrating and agonizing for me.

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