Assessment of impaired self-awareness after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury: a comparison of assessment tools.

Objective: To compare different assessment methods of impaired self-awareness (ISA).

Methods: We included 37 patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) at a subacute/chronic stage, and 33 healthy controls. ISA was assessed with three methods: discrepancy scores (comparison between patient and proxy ratings) on three scales (Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS), Awareness Questionnaire (AQ) and Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX)); clinician rating with the Self-Awareness of Deficits Interview (SADI); and the difference between prediction or estimation of performance and actual performance on two cognitive tasks.

Self-defining memories after severe traumatic brain injury: A preliminary study.

Autobiographical memory plays a major role in the (re)construction of sense of identity, a recurrent issue after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although the recall of specific autobiographical events is frequently impaired in patients with TBI, little is known about how these changes affect their sense of self and identity. Thus, we examined self-defining memories (SDMs), that is, the most significant personal memories supporting one's sense of identity, in 16 patients with severe TBI and in matched controls.

Self-appraisals and episodic memory: Different psychological factors related to patient versus informant reports of apathy in severe traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: Apathy is a core feature in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The psychological processes underlying apathy are still unclear, and the few studies conducted on this subject have essentially focused on cognitive processes and informant reports of apathetic manifestations. The aims of the present study were to examine self-reports versus informant reports of diminished initiative/interest, as well as their relationship with different cognitive factors (attention/executive mechanisms, episodic memory, and multitasking) and personal identity factors (self-esteem and self-efficacy beliefs).

Longitudinal Course and Predictors of Apathetic Symptoms after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objectives: Apathy is one of the most common behavioral symptoms encountered after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, very little is known about the longitudinal course and predictors of apathetic manifestations. The aims of the present study were to examine how apathy changes and the predictive value of cognitive factors (memory, attention/executive mechanisms, and multitasking) and personal identity factors (self-esteem and self-efficacy beliefs) for apathy over a period of 10 months.

Does multitasking mediate the relationships between episodic memory, attention, executive functions and apathetic manifestations in traumatic brain injury?

Apathy is frequently described in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI); its negative consequences particularly affect functional independence. Among apathetic manifestations, lack of initiative and lack of interest have mainly been associated with cognitive impairments. However, few studies have been conducted to precisely identify the underlying cognitive processes.

Apathetic symptom presentations in patients with severe traumatic brain injury: Assessment, heterogeneity and relationships with psychosocial functioning and caregivers' burden.

Objectives: Apathy is frequently described following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and defined on the basis of three dimensions (emotional blunting, lack of initiative, lack of interest), which are commonly assessed by the Apathy Inventory (AI). The aims were (1) to explore the psychometric properties of this scale in the TBI population and the relationships between the dimensions; and (2) to determine whether sub-groups of patients differing with respect to the three AI dimensions could be identified and to examine their differences on psychosocial functioning and caregivers' burden.

Participants And Measures: Close relatives of 68 patients with severe TBI were given the AI and two questionnaires to assess their subjective burden and patients' changes in psychosocial functioning.

A multidimensional approach to apathy after traumatic brain injury.

Apathy is commonly described following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is associated with serious consequences, notably for patients' participation in rehabilitation, family life and later social reintegration. There is strong evidence in the literature of the multidimensional nature of apathy (behavioural, cognitive and emotional), but the processes underlying each dimension are still unclear. The purpose of this article is first, to provide a critical review of the current definitions and instruments used to measure apathy in neurological and psychiatric disorders, and second, to review the prevalence, characteristics, neuroanatomical correlates, relationships with other neurobehavioural disorders and mechanisms of apathy in the TBI population.

Transient improvement of poststroke apathy with zolpidem: a single-case, placebo-controlled double-blind study.

We report the case of a 44-year-old patient with severe and disabling apathy nearly 2 years after a right hemisphere haemorrhagic stroke. The effect of a single dose of zolpidem was tested over a 2-week period, in alternation with either no treatment or a placebo in a double-blind randomised trial. Zolpidem was associated with a dramatic improvement in apathy, as assessed with the Apathy Inventory and the Behavioral Dysexecutive Syndrome Inventory.