By Kelly Faville on Fri, Feb 25, 2022
Objective, standardized screening, assessment and measurement tools are essential for careful diagnosis, personalized measurement-based care, and successful treatment of individuals suffering from substance use disorders.
Total Brain offers a unique assessment tool that not only measures risk of addiction, but also looks at the brain's 12 capacities to give a complete picture of a patient's emotional and cognitive strengths and weaknesses. This clinically-validated platform also identifies risk of co-morbid mental health issues such as depression, general anxiety, and social anxiety; guides personalized care plan recommendations; and measures treatment effectiveness.
Total Brain measures the brain's 12 capacities.
Emotion |
Feeling |
Cognition |
Self Control |
Emotional Flexibility |
Stress Control |
Memory |
Social Connectivity |
Emotion Awareness |
Anxiety Control |
Focus |
Resilience |
Nonconscious Negativity Bias |
Depressive Mood Control |
Planning |
Conscious Negativity Bias |
Thorough and Efficient
For nearly a decade, Total Brain has played an integral role in the assessment of patients at Cornerstone of Recovery, an inpatient and intensive outpatient alcoholism treatment and drug rehabilitation facility located just outside Knoxville, Tennessee.
Joanna Mansur is a licensed clinical social worker and a director at Cornerstone of Recovery. Joanna oversees Cornerstone's 5-day patient evaluations. She has this to say about the platform, "With just five days to evaluate a patient and make a sound recommendation, we need to arm ourselves with as much information as possible and appraise each patient as quickly as possible to make the best recommendations. That is where Total Brain comes in."
In-depth and Accurate
When asked about which platform elements she found most useful, Joanna responded, "I find the cognitive assessment among the most beneficial tools. It enables me to understand the patient in a way I cannot achieve via other assessments."
Joanna told us that before employing Total Brain, Cornerstone measured cognition using WISC, in-person interviews and a staff-administered neuropsych if warranted. Total Brain now replaces WISC. Joanna reports it to be far more accurate. Today, if there is a need for a full neuropsych, Cornerstone outsources the testing.
Impactful
Data, culled from Cornerstone patients using the Total Brain self-care exercises and assessments between March and September 2021, shows marked increases in cognition and promising increases in self-control, specifically positivity and resilience. A rise in social connectivity shows an increased ability to form and sustain important social networks and form a support system.
Final Thought
Joanna offered us this final thought, "I am very confident in the Total Brain data and the insights they provide. The assessments truly validate much of what we are seeing or clarify areas that we may question. The data that Total Brain provides is objective – different than any other assessment we offer. Together, with subjective responses to patient evaluation questionnaires, we can get a comprehensive picture of our patients' mental health."
Learn more about Cornerstone's experience with Total Brain. Download the case study from our conversation with Joanna.
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