Neuropsychological Review
Trapped in my Mind
Justin W. White

Cognitively alert, you can think, you can see, but you can’t move a thing, and as a result, you are unable to communicate through verbal or motor means, effectively placing a human being in a tomb of flesh (Kobert, 2008). This unimaginable experience is the stark reality for patients who experience a condition known as ‘locked-in syndrome.’ In The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (based on the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean Dominique Bauby), Mathieu Amalric plays the role of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of a trendy French magazine who suddenly experiences a stroke (cerebrovascular accident, CVA)​.

Neuropsychological Review
CTE: The brain disease that is changing the NFL
Timothy J. Grillo

​Concussion depicts Dr. Bennett Omalu’s efforts to identify what was causing former NFL players to exhibit signs of psychosis and dementia. Omalu, a neuropathologist is staggered when he analyzes a former player’s brain. He was expecting to see an ugly degraded brain, like the brain of someone suffering Alzheimer’s disease, but to his surprise the brain of former Pittsburg Steeler Mike Webster looked different (Kirk, 2013). 

Henry, a prominent defense lawyer, attempts to rebuild his life after a shooting leaves him with significant brain damage.    


Henry, an aggressive defense lawyer, is shot in the head and shoulder during a robbery. He wakes up in the hospital unable to speak, coordinate his movements, and has extensive memory loss. His doctor explains that interrupted blood flow to the brain resulted in generalized brain damage. During rehabilitation, he is able to regain some verbal ability and motor function, but not his memory. He goes home, and manages to reconnect with the family he barely remembers. He returns to work, but now has ethical concerns with his previous cases. He decides to firmly establish himself as a different person rather than attempting to identify the person he used to be.

Neuropsychological Review
Amnesia and Hollywood: Can Brain Injury Improve Your Life?
Elizabeth K. Whipple

It is a frequent scene in Hollywood, that of a hapless bystander who gets pulled into a disastrous situation that is neither his fault nor under his control.  The character must do everything in his power to rise above the situation, to learn and grow in order to overcome...

 A High School hockey player suffers a traumatic brain injury, and must deal with his injury, as well as the thieves manipulating him to their advantage.    

 Hockey superstar Chris Pratt suffers a traumatic brain injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident.  The damage to his brain leaves Chris with anterograde amnesia and difficulty sequencing simple tasks.  He struggles to maintain his independence from his family, and relies on his roommate Lewis to help him get by.  Chris’s injury and job as the bank’s custodian make him a prime target for conman and thief, Gary Spargo.  Gary gains Chris’s trust and involves him in his plot to rob the bank.  Chris must overcome the deficits imposed on him by his injury to stop the robbery and protect those he loves.


Neuropsychological Review 
Cory Czuczman, Dayna Reber, & Tim Daly    

The Lookout starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a film depicting a young man’s life after suffering a traumatic brain injury. This critique will focus on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's portrayal of a young man living with the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury. The movie takes place... 

A new bride suffers retrograde amnesia after a traumatic brain injury and loses the memory of ever having met her husband in this romantic drama based on actual events.

Paige suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident that results in retrograde amnesia. She awakens in a hospital room having lost several years of her life, and the memory of ever having met Leo and marrying him. Leo attempts to remind Paige of their relationship and reclaim their life prior to the car accident. Although Paige never regains her memory, she discovers facts of her past that lead her back to her life prior to the accident. The movie is based on the actual story of Kim and Krickett Carpenter.

Neuropsychological Review
Ashley McIntyre, Lona Wang, Melanie Musso, & Hela Saidi with Mary Spiers

When considering whether The Vow accurately portrays a case of retrograde amnesia, the answer is both yes and no.  This movie is based on real-life events, (the story of Krickett Carpenter) so the loss of memory for events prior to a brain injury (i.e. retrograde amnesia), even for a long period of time, can happen.  However...