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The Resource Listening in the silence, seeing in the dark : reconstructing life after brain injury, Ruthann Knechel Johansen

Listening in the silence, seeing in the dark : reconstructing life after brain injury, Ruthann Knechel Johansen

Creator
Summary
  • "Traumatic brain injury can interrupt without warning the life story any one of us is in the midst of creating. When the author's fifteen-year-old son survives a terrible car crash in spite of massive trauma to his brain, she and her family know only that his story has not ended. Their efforts, Erik's own efforts, and those of everyone who helps bring him from deep coma to new life make up a moving and inspiring story for us all, one that invites us to reconsider the very nature of a "self" and selfhood." "Ruthann Knechel Johansen, who teaches literature and narrative theory, is a particularly eloquent witness to the silent space in which her son, confronted with life-shattering injury and surrounded by conflicting narratives about his viability, is somehow reborn. She describes the time of crisis and medical intervention as an hour-by-hour struggle to communicate with the medical world on the one hand and the everyday world of family and friends on the other. None of them knows how much, or even whether, they can communicate with the wounded child who is lost from himself and everything he knew. From the first desperate threshold to others equally challenging, we follow as Johansen shares and records the long ordeal of rebirth. Through this experience of utter disintegration, she comes to realize that self-identity is molded and sustained by stories."
  • "As Erik regains movement and consciousness, his parents, younger sister, doctors, therapists, educators, and friends all contribute to a web of language and narrative that gradually enables his body, mind, and feelings to make sense of their reacquired functions. Like those who know and love him, the young man feels intense grief and anger for the loss of the self he was before the accident, yet he is the first to see continuity where they see only change. The story is breathtaking, because we become involved in the pain and suspense and faith that accompany every birth. Medical and rehabilitation professionals, social workers, psychotherapists, students of narrative, and anyone who has faced life's trauma will find hope in this meditation on selfhood: out of the shambles of profound brain injury and coma can arise fruitful lives and deepened relationships."--Jacket
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
236 pages
Contents
  • The impact of vulnerability
  • waiting in crisis
  • uncertain deliveries
  • becoming again
  • the scattered self
  • improvisational selves
  • accepting vulnerability
  • crossing the threshold
Isbn
9780520231146
Link
Instance
Label
Listening in the silence, seeing in the dark : reconstructing life after brain injury
Title
Listening in the silence, seeing in the dark
Title remainder
reconstructing life after brain injury
Statement of responsibility
Ruthann Knechel Johansen
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • "Traumatic brain injury can interrupt without warning the life story any one of us is in the midst of creating. When the author's fifteen-year-old son survives a terrible car crash in spite of massive trauma to his brain, she and her family know only that his story has not ended. Their efforts, Erik's own efforts, and those of everyone who helps bring him from deep coma to new life make up a moving and inspiring story for us all, one that invites us to reconsider the very nature of a "self" and selfhood." "Ruthann Knechel Johansen, who teaches literature and narrative theory, is a particularly eloquent witness to the silent space in which her son, confronted with life-shattering injury and surrounded by conflicting narratives about his viability, is somehow reborn. She describes the time of crisis and medical intervention as an hour-by-hour struggle to communicate with the medical world on the one hand and the everyday world of family and friends on the other. None of them knows how much, or even whether, they can communicate with the wounded child who is lost from himself and everything he knew. From the first desperate threshold to others equally challenging, we follow as Johansen shares and records the long ordeal of rebirth. Through this experience of utter disintegration, she comes to realize that self-identity is molded and sustained by stories."
  • "As Erik regains movement and consciousness, his parents, younger sister, doctors, therapists, educators, and friends all contribute to a web of language and narrative that gradually enables his body, mind, and feelings to make sense of their reacquired functions. Like those who know and love him, the young man feels intense grief and anger for the loss of the self he was before the accident, yet he is the first to see continuity where they see only change. The story is breathtaking, because we become involved in the pain and suspense and faith that accompany every birth. Medical and rehabilitation professionals, social workers, psychotherapists, students of narrative, and anyone who has faced life's trauma will find hope in this meditation on selfhood: out of the shambles of profound brain injury and coma can arise fruitful lives and deepened relationships."--Jacket
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1942-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Johansen, Ruthann Knechel
Dewey number
  • 362.1/97481044/092
  • B
Index
index present
LC call number
RJ496.B7
LC item number
J65 2002
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
NLM call number
WS340 J63 2002
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Johansen, Erik
  • Johansen, Erik
  • Johansen, Erik
  • Johansen, Erik
  • Brain
  • Brain
  • Brain
  • Bibliotherapy
  • Narrative therapy
  • Parents of children with disabilities
  • Bibliotherapy
  • Brain
  • Brain
  • Brain
  • Health
  • Narrative therapy
  • Parents of children with disabilities
  • Hersenbeschadiging
  • Gezinsrelaties
  • Verhalen
  • Brain Injuries
  • Bibliotherapy
  • Parent and child.
Label
Listening in the silence, seeing in the dark : reconstructing life after brain injury, Ruthann Knechel Johansen
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-227) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
The impact of vulnerability -- waiting in crisis -- uncertain deliveries -- becoming again -- the scattered self -- improvisational selves -- accepting vulnerability -- crossing the threshold
Control code
ocm45325220
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
236 pages
Isbn
9780520231146
Lccn
2001027681
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
  • (Sirsi) o45325220
  • (OCoLC)45325220
Label
Listening in the silence, seeing in the dark : reconstructing life after brain injury, Ruthann Knechel Johansen
Link
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-227) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
The impact of vulnerability -- waiting in crisis -- uncertain deliveries -- becoming again -- the scattered self -- improvisational selves -- accepting vulnerability -- crossing the threshold
Control code
ocm45325220
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
236 pages
Isbn
9780520231146
Lccn
2001027681
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
  • (Sirsi) o45325220
  • (OCoLC)45325220

Subject

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