What is it about?
Around 2018, Kenzie et al. proposed a novel way to understand persisting symptoms after a concussion. Rather than seeing persisting symptoms as a direct result of the concussion injury, their approach seeks to understand persisting symptoms as sustained by a complex system of interaction between biology, psychology, context, and between symptoms themselves. The current article first evaluates this complex system's based approach, and then suggests ways to improve it. The findings are supportive of Kenzie et al.'s approach over all, and suggest ways to continue building on this approach by drawing on ideas from embodied cognition and philosophy of science.
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Why is it important?
The analysis in this paper shows that Kenzie et al.'s complex system approach is a novel and advantageous way to try and understand persisting symptoms after concussion. This approach, while not always given the credit it is due, appears to underlie the recent interest in symptoms network modelling in the concussion field (Via a proposal by Iverson, who explicitly drew on Kenzie at al.'s model). The current paper lays outa road map for how we can improve our understandings of persisting symptoms of concussion, and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that seem to underlie them.
Perspectives
I am proud of this paper, not only by it's relevance for theoretical understandings of concussion, but because it examples how theoretical work can support good science. Theoretical work is often undervalued in the psy-sciences, yet this paper examples a clear yet broad way to evaluate a theory within the sciences that attempt to bridge the apparent mind-body divide. Despite drawing on a wide range of literature from outside of the concussion field proper (e.g., phil of science, phil of mind), I think we successfully manage to maintain a reasonable degree of practical utility for both scientists and clinicians.
Dr Kristopher Nielsen
Victoria University of Wellington
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Evaluating the complex systems approach to persisting post-concussion symptoms, Theory & Psychology, October 2024, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/09593543241287749.
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