This book brings together an outstanding group of clinical investigators and neuroscientists engaged in the study of disorders of consciousness. The challenges of coma science are surprisingly difficult with a degree of diagnostic uncertainty that may range at the bedside in some patients from unconscious to fully aware, even for patients with no evidence of behavioral responsiveness.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, is the most commonly administered psychological test in the world.¹   In 2006, the publishers of the MMPI-2 adopted “Fake Bad Scale.”  The scale consists of 43 statements to which the patient responds “True” or “False.”  Unfortunately, many of those same statements are statements one would expect a person with brain damage to endorse.  Traumatic brain damage can cause attention and concentration difficulties, confusion, anxiety and depression.²   Persons with cognitive dysfunction and related emotional issues such as anxiety, depression and/or physical problems due to a brain injury may endorse items on the scale such as anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, head pain and/or confusion.  The patient incurs points on the Fake Bad Scale by admitting to the very symptoms of brain injury.³   In fact, if one removes the items in the scale which are symptoms of brain impairment, the patient may very well pass, thus making elevations on the Fake Bad Scale potentially an indication of true brain impairment versus symptom amplification or ,in worst case scenarios, malingering.

More than 300 delegates, including researchers, health care professionals and engineers will come together on October 15-16th in Valencia, Spain to discuss the latest developments in neurorehabilitation.

In order to keep IBIA members apprised of current brain injury literature, NTL editors and editorial board members have prepared a list of recently published articles that may be of interest.