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Understanding the Brain and Emotions
http://dneumann73.googlepages.com/home
We
have featured a number of sites over the past two
years but our site of the month for December 2007 is
not like other sites we have presented. It's not a
grassroots or not-for-profit organization site, not a
commercial site, not a government site, not a site by
an individual with a disability, or a family site.
The website: Understanding
the Brain and Emotions was
created by a graduate student working towards her
doctorate in rehabilitation science.
Dawn Neumann has a master’s degree in psychology and
has worked with individuals with brain injury. She is
doing her dissertation on treatment programs to
improve emotion recognition in people with TBI. We
asked her how she came to work with this group of
people:
Prior
to applying to graduate school I worked as a
cognitive therapist for people with brain
injuries for almost a decade. It has always
frustrated me that there is so little known
about this area of rehabilitation. With so
many other disabilities there are guidelines
on how to approach their care but, with brain
injury, it always seemed like trial and error.
I went to graduate school to focus on clinical
research that will hopefully give clinicians
some structure to follow when it comes to
brain injury rehabilitation.
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As a graduate student Dawn developed educational
programs that she felt were useful for people in
helping understand their own emotions, as well as
understanding others they interact with. Having used
these programs with individuals with TBI in clinical
practice, Dawn then wanted to make them available on
the web. She told us why she started Understanding
the Brain and Emotions:
In
my experience, one of the biggest problems
that people with brain injury experience is
poor social outcomes; some people have
difficulty maintaining the quality and
quantity of relationships that they once had.
My website is focused on emotions and
the brain. Research shows that the ability to
appropriately express our emotions, and
determine how others are feeling are key
factors that contribute to our social and
professional relationships. I feel that as
people get a better understanding about how
emotions are affected by a brain injury, the
more tolerance there will be from friends and
caregivers. In addition, my website may
provide some insight as to why certain
problems are occurring and how to address
those problems.
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Understanding
the Brain and Emotions
is mostly a website with text, charts, and
illustrations. There are a number of sections with
readings and exercises that visitors can use - they
include:
- How
does Emotions Affect Our Lives?
- Your
Brain and Emotions
- Understanding
Your Emotions
- Understanding
Others Emotions
- Emotional
Exercises
- Brain
Injury and Emotions
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Clicking on the section "Understanding Your Own
Emotions," will bring you to a reading on that
topic with examples of typical emotions, followed by a
section with real-life illustrations of emotions and
how they might be experienced. From there you would go
to a series of exercises on this topic. The rest of
the site is structured in a similar way.
Dawn explained the purpose of Understanding
the Brain and Emotions:
This
site is meant to be used in several ways.
First it is meant to be an educational
resource. Second, Understanding
the Brain and Emotions
can be used as a place to gain insight.
The website is set up for
people to write Dawn with their questions or
experiences or to share about their emotions and
behavior. Other people using the site may be
able to learn from the experiences of others. In
addition, there is a page with some exercises
meant to give people ideas to improve their
emotional skills.
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The
author is in the process of revising the language used
to a more reader-friendly format. Dawn explains:
Understanding
the Brain and Emotions
is currently set up mostly for family members,
caregivers, and clinicians to read, but some
of the language may be a bit technical. I will
gradually be developing pages that are more
reader-friendly. Some visitors have commented
that parts of the website are a bit technical
to read, and that is why I plan to add pages
that present the same information, but at a
more basic level.
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It
will be interesting to see how Understanding
the Brain and Emotions
website will evolve over time. It is a site that
attempts to provide resources and education in a
specific area that does not currently have a lot of
web resources available, and certainly not with the
educational elements that Understanding
the Brain and Emotions
contains. The site also provides information on
concussion, emotions and other disorders such as
autism and schizophrenia. There is also a weekly
emotional quiz, and links to other web resources.
Dawn Neumann has created a unique website. She noted
to us:
I
believe understanding emotions and relationships
can raise the quality of life for individuals
with brain injury - that is what I am trying to
do with this site. I also hope friends and
family members, as well as professionals, visit
to gain insight into the emotional aspects of
their relationships with individuals with a
brain injury.
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Northeast Center for Special Care is pleased to present Understanding
the Brain and Emotions
as our website of the month for December, 2007. They are just a
click away, and don't forget to bookmark them so you can visit again.
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Disclaimer:
Reference in this web site to any specific
organizations, commercial products, process, service,
manufacturer, or company does not constitute its
endorsement or recommendation by Northeast Center for
Special Care.
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