Faculty Articles
Symptoms Following Mild Head Injury: Expectation as Aetiology.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1992
Publication Title
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
Volume
55
Issue/Number
3
First Page
200
ISSN
0022-3050
Last Page
204
Abstract/Excerpt
An affective, somatic, and memory check-list of symptoms was administered to subjects who had no personal experience or knowledge of head injury. Subjects indicated their current experiences of symptoms, then imagined having sustained a mild head injury in a motor vehicle accident, and endorsed symptoms they expected to experience six months after the injury. The checklist of symptoms was also administered to a group of patients with head injuries for comparison. Imaginary concussion reliably showed expectations in controls of a coherent cluster of symptoms virtually identical to the postconcussion syndrome reported by patients with head trauma. Patients consistently underestimated the premorbid prevalence of these symptoms compared with the base rate in controls. Symptom expectations appear to share as much variance with postconcussion syndrome as head injury itself. An aetiological role is suggested.
DOI
10.1136/jnnp.55.3.200
NSUWorks Citation
Mittenberg, W.,
DiGiulio, D. V.,
Perrin, S.,
Bass, A. E.
(1992). Symptoms Following Mild Head Injury: Expectation as Aetiology.. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 55(3), 200-204.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/680
