Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology

Welcome to the second edition of the Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology: Applications of Cognitive Neuroscience. This second edition continues to take an in-depth approach to the medical conditions and methods of neurorehabilitation found in the first edition. The new chapters for the second edition reflect the changes in prominent problems found in the clinic and thus provide good insights for research investigation, and are described in this Preface to the 2nd Edition. This second edition includes one of the most prominent and difficult to treat conditions, Substance Use Disorders, and provides a great deal of guidance for both clinical and research purposes.

A subject that has largely been missing from our literature yet affects the entire population is Nutrition in Neurocognition and Mental Health, and this rich and comprehensive chapter is critical for guiding work involving developmental and aging populations as well as the general population. Autoimmune diseases are increasing in frequency in the population, and we now include Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Mechanisms, Diagnosis, Neuropsychological Phenotypes, and Treatments, which addresses both endocrine and autoimmune features of these diseases. Few centers are as experienced in early childhood brain injury as the Murdoch Children’ Research Institute, and this edition is grateful for their chapter on Traumatic Brain Injury in Very Early Childhood. Increasing rates of asthma led to the invitation for a chapter on this very common disorder that encompasses the problem across the lifespan and in the social context: Cognitive Functioning in Asthma: Central Nervous System and Other Influences. To learn about a critically important new approach to treatment in neurology, psychiatry, and psychology, meditation is discussed by an author with extensive experience and research, in The Role of Mindfulness in Neurorehabilitation: From the Monastery to the Clinic. These new chapters are discussed below, followed by the revisions and additions the reader will find in many of the chapters from the first edition.