mental gymnastics

Mrs. RS sat in front of me, complaining about her husband, and refused to cooperate with me.

Fix me. I don't want to do the work.

Well, she didn't say so, but I definitely felt it.
So I was not surprised when she stood me up today.
It was her husband who left the message on my machine. I wonder whether it was her or her husband made the withdrawal decision. He had constantly asked me to figure out what was wrong with his beloved wife's eyes.

Let me tell you. There is nothing wrong with her eyes.
There is nothing wrong with Mr. IL's eyes either. Mr. IL was another patient participating in my study. He was way much more cooperative than Mrs. RS. When I visited him again for debriefing, his wife asked me about his eyes.
No, the problem is not caused by the eyes. It's the brain. Remember, he had a stroke, which is also called "brain attack".

Both patients are impaired in spatial organization. They are not able to report locations of items immediately (less than one minute) after they have drawn the items.
Both of them and their caring spouses asked for my suggestion on how to improve.
My answer was "You have to use your brain hard."
Mrs. RS's husband did not like it. He loves his wife so much that he doesn't want her to tire herself out in any way. He considered my suggestion nonsense and useless.
Mr. IL's wife did not have comments. Mr. IL hated the idea of doing mental gymnastics, but he agreed with me. Oh, I like sensible people.

Why is it so difficult to understand?
The brain controls your body. So when the brain is damaged, your body parts will be affected.
The brain also controls your thinking, memory, perception, emotion, and almost everything. So when the brain is damaged, some of your cognitive or affective functions will of course be affected.
Some mis-informative website says that emotional changes are side-effects after stroke. No, it's not a side effect. It is an effect!
Language problems after left hemisphere stroke are not side-effects of stroke. They are the effects!
Spatial problems after right hemisphere stroke are not side-effects of stroke. They are the effects!
How can you recover?
How do your paralyzed arm recover? You work on it via physical therapies. You work hard on it.
How do you speak again? How do you understand written words again? How do you perceive the lost half of the world again? How do you react normally to social scenes again? You work on it via cognitive therapies (although they are sooooooo under-developed currently, which is why I'm employed). You have to work hard on it.

I wish I can say it more. You have to work hard on it for stimulating your neural fibers. Otherwise, no one can help you get better. Don't be lazy. Don't veggie out in bed or couch. Use your brain.
I do not totally agree on every word in The Brain That Changes Itself, authored by Norman Doidge. However, the gist of the book is of great importance: Use it or lose it.

One more time with the vision:
We can't see without our eyes, but we don't "see" with our eyes.
The eyes transform photons to neural signals, and nerves transfer neural signals to the brain.
We "see" with our brain, people! Do not ask me to fix your eyes! Why don't you believe me, or neurologists, or ophthalmologists?

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with his eyes?" Mrs. IL asked.
"I am sure."
"But he bumped into things at home."
"He can see. He is not blind. It is his visual attention in trouble." I said.
"Oh." Mrs. IL had no more questions. Mr. IL was silently listening to us. He was upset that he actually understood what I was saying.

It is more difficult to take in terms of feelings when one understands one's own disability than when one refuses or is not capable to understand.
Anger feels better than depression.

Laughters will definitely feel better than anger or depression, so try John Kawie's column Life At the Curb.
Eleven years ago, he had a right-hemisphere stroke on his honeymoon. He has recovered and resumed his career as a stand-up comedian. His column is as funny as David Sedaris's books.
I wish Kawie could provide some jokes on functional vision problems, but he may have not been aware of those problems himself. Not being aware of one's functional vision problems is very common, but still disabling. Perhaps living in the visually crowded Manhattan helps him regain visuospatial ability by over-stimulation.
That's right. Another good reason to live in a big city.

Use it or lose it.