Clinical Neuropsychology: issues and applications

Abstract

Neuropsychology is the speciality of clinical psychology, which deals with the study of brain behavior relationship. Clinical neuropsychology uses the principles and procedures of neuropsychology in clinical setting to understand brain related problems or clinical conditions, to intervene into them, to manage them, and to rehabilitate persons suffering from such conditions. Neuropsychological assessment is very important aspect of clinical neuropsychology, which attempts to generate structural as well as functional descriptions of the clients’ present status in order to manage the problem more effectively from biopsychosocial perspective. The behavioral neurology approach, single test approach, neuropsychological battery approach, and qualitative or individual-centered normative approach of neuropsychological assessment have successively developed over the time; each of them have their own merits and limitations. The discipline of clinical neuropsychology has been proved to be an effective concomitant of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry all over the world and its application in present day’s neuromedicine has been accepted with respect. The present article discusses various applications of clinical neuropsychology along with major challenges of the subject in detail.