Impulsive decisions, risk taking behavior, grief, and loss of identity due to illness are just a few of the mental health and behavioral issues in neurosurgical problems in our youth. We will discuss neurosurgical cases ranging from spinal stenosis to traumatic brain injury with the specific objective of identifying ways we can help youth and their families prevent and best deal with these crises.

Once you have participated in this session and gleamed insights from the professional clinician presenting and others in the room, you will be able to:

1) Discuss some of the changes brought on by neurosurgery depending upon age groups, clinical perspectives, intellectual developmental disabilities, and behavioral health issues; then,

2) Explore what is commonly experienced with and without neurosurgery, what can be expected from a mental health standpoint, what clinicians should consider with these populations, and how these changes translate into therapeutic settings and interventions.