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Premorbid Personality

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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

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Synonyms

Personality traits

Definition

Personality refers to patterns of thinking, interpreting, and understanding oneself relative to the environment. Premorbid personality describes personality traits existing prior to illness or injury. There is evidence that lifelong personality traits persist even after traumatic brain injury. Clinical interviews with patients and family can provide insight about important premorbid personality characteristics that may have implications for how the individual copes with acquired disability. Both negative and positive traits may be associated with adjustment to injury or illness. High levels of neuroticism, avoidance coping, catastrophizing, ineffective problem solving, and self-blame have been associated with poor adaptation. Recently, attention has been directed toward examining positive coping including greater levels of hope, lower neuroticism, and greater agreeableness.

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Coping

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References and Readings

  • Johnson-Green, D., & Touradji, P. (2009). Assessment of personality and psychopathology. In R. G. Frank, M. Rosenthal, & B. Caplan (Eds.), Handbook of rehabilitation psychology, Second Edition. (pp. 195–211). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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  • Kurtz, J. E., Putnam, S. H., & Stone, C. (1998). Stability of normal personality traits after traumatic brain injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 13, 1–14.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Health, Kent State University, 5190, 44242-0001, Kent, OH, USA

    Robert Frank

Authors
  1. Robert Frank
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Professor of Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Virginia Commonwealth University – Medical Center Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, VCU, 980542, Richmond, Virginia, 23298-0542, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation Research Center, 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, 07052, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Neurology and Neuroscience, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey, USA

    John DeLuca

  4. Independent Practice, 564 M.O.B. East, 100 E. Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA, 19096, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Frank, R. (2011). Premorbid Personality. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_2056

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_2056

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-79947-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79948-3

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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