Honors Research Seminar

Throughout my research and the process of completing my annotated bibliography, I came across many interesting articles regarding the emotional health of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. One very compelling article I read was about how neurologic music therapy (NMT) is effective in improving the mental and cognitive health of TBI patients.  According to the article, neurologic music therapy has shown “positive results” for reducing stress, anxiety, agitation, and inducing a stable mood state. Research has shown that NMT enhances mental health because it reduces the cortisol and beta endorphin levels in the body. Since these hormones are typically associated with high stress, lowering these levels can relieve anxiety, agitation, and anger.  Neurologic music therapy was developed by the Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy in Colorado. There was a lot of research that led up to the first certification program that ran in 1999 (MEDRhythms) . Since then, the use of NMT has been cont

            If one thing is for sure, it’s that brain injuries are difficult for everyone involved. Whether it be the friends or family of a survivor, it effects every member of the party in some way shape or form. A study done by Mandi Broodryk et al. discussed the experiences of the family caregivers of acquired brain injury patients.  The research was done by having 12 female caregivers, related to the brain injury patients, meet with a clinical psychologist and describe their experiences. The data was collected by determining the common trends or patterns throughout the twelve interviews. The three common themes that came out of the analysis was ‘shock’ after hearing the news, poor experiences in hospitals and having difficult interactions with doctors. The study concluded that the family caregivers of traumatic brain injury patients undergo a lot of stress and should be supported throughout the process of the individual’s recovery.            It is apparent that brain injurie

Hi,  My name is Alexis Harle and I am a Biology major here at JWU. I come from Calgary, Alberta, Canada but ended up all the way on the east coast because I got recruited to play NCAA div III hockey for Johnson & Wales University. The year I came to play was JWU women’s ice hockey’s inaugural season. We had a small team of 9 skaters and 3 goalies, often even less than that due to injuries. I was nominated the first team captain for the program and served as captain for two years. My hockey career came to a sudden end when I sustained my 6 th concussion while playing a game on home ice at the end of my sophomore year. This was my third major concussion, so the results of the accident were severe. I was taken from the bench, where I collapsed, to the hospital in an ambulance where I then began the process of my long recovery. I had to drop my classes to try to heal and make many other lifestyle changes. For the first three months, I was unable to walk without assistance and need