Teresa Susmaras - What Is Wada Testing?

The Wada test, also referred as the intracarotid sodium amobarbital procedure (ISAP), was nicknamed after the first doctor to perform the procedure, Dr. Juhn Wada.  This test is carried out during an angiography and is used to assess the location of the language and memory functions of the brain.

During the test, each side of the brain is examined independently.  In most people, speech is controlled by the left side of the brain; with the Wada test, doctors can determine which side of the brain controls this function in each individual.  Memory is typically controlled by each side of the brain and the Wada test can show which side has a stronger memory.

The Wada test is completed while the patient is awake by injecting a barbiturate into one side of the brain at a time.  While injected, the two sides of the brain cannot communicate with one and other, enabling doctors to test each side of the brain independently for memory and language function.  Doctors use electroencephalography (EEG) to determine that the injected side of the brain has stopped functioning.  Once this has been confirmed, a neurologist can conduct neurological tests.  The Wada test is mainly used for epilepsy patients prior to surgery to determine which side of their brains are accountable for memory and speech functions.

As a neuropsychology resident at Rush University, Teresa Susmaras developed her interest in Wada testing while conducting the tests in the Behavioral Sciences Department.  Since then, Susmaras has continued to develop her expertise and interest in this procedure.

Teresa Susmaras Works Early Post-Secondary Studies at ISU

Teresa Susmaras eventually transferred her studies to the University of Illinois at Chicago in her early years of post-graduate study. But Susmaras time at Illinois State University, where she enrolled after her high school graduation, was rich in the learning experiences which assail the first-time university student.

Illinois State University was founded in the town of Normal, or rather, the town of Normal took its name from the original purpose of the institution: to act as a ‘normal’ school, training teachers who would educate the citizens of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln was the attorney hired to prepare legal documents for the funding of the school. Its original name was Illinois State Normal University, and it was first located in downtown Bloomington, Illinois, at the state’s center. Eventually, the school relocated to its current campus in North Bloomington, which promptly adopted the name ‘Normal’.

The name of the university would change twice more, to Illinois State University at Normal in 1965, and to Illinois State University in 1968. ISU is the oldest public university in Illinois, and continues today to turn out well-prepared teachers, remaining in the top ten largest producers of teachers in the United
States. Illinois State, by the era of Teresa Susmaras’ enrollment, had expanded far beyond its meager academic beginnings. Today ISU offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level programs in the academic colleges and research centers typified by the College of Applied Science and Technology, the College of Arts and Sciences, The College of Business, The College of Education, The College of Fine Arts, The Mennonite College of Nursing, and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
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Teresa Susmaras Witnessed First-Hand the Violence of AntiSocial Behavior

Psychosocial counseling, a discipline for mental health practitioners in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy and School Counseling, is generally pursued after acquiring at least a Master’s degree in the field. Teresa Susmaras did volunteer work in the clinical setting of a domestic violence clinic, gaining hours toward her intern requirements and simultaneously gaining valuable first-hand experience with the manifestations of violent behavior.

Dysfunctions in personal and social behavior prompt humans to seek out help from psychologists specializing in the counseling arena. Psychosocial counselors work in many areas of human endeavor: government agencies, schools, therapy venues for individual and group therapies, and clinics specializing in substance abuse, anxiety disorders and other behavior and development issues. Emotional, social, educational and developmental behavior is the focus of the counselor attempting to bring his academic expertise to bear in the treatment of a multitude of human behavioral disorders.

Counselors may work with domestic violence survivors in a variety of positions: volunteering as did
Teresa Susmaras in pursuit of early experience in the mental health field, survivor shelter supervisor, as residential counselors who work with patients on a daily basis and offer counseling and support, and as mental health professionals in independent offices. Significant mental health facility experience earns hours toward a certification in the mental health field. Counseling experience can also advance one toward a higher degree and licensure in social work, psychology and other fields of endeavor. Dr. Teresa Susmaras complete a 40-hour certification program years ago, enabling her to provide counseling to domestic violence survivors.

​http://careersinpsychology.org​

Wada Test Normally Administered by Neuropsychologists like Teresa Susmaras

Teresa Susmaras and other neuropsychologists have noted side effects of the Wada test, administered prior to brain surgery.   Possible dramatic personality changes are possible, although a lack of inhibition is generally more common.  Shivering is a frequent effect.  During an injection into the left hemisphere, typically, the patient may experience impaired speech function including loss of understanding, although the ability to sing may still be present.  The recovery of speech after the medication dissipates may include errors in comprehension or expression.  The greatest risk may be in the insertion of the catheter into the internal carotid artery.  Scientists are currently searching for non-invasive alternatives, such as using fMRI, TMS, magnetoencephalography and a near-infrared spectroscopy.

The Wada test originated with a Canadian neurologist and epilepsy researcher, Juhn Atsushi Wada, from University of British Columbia.  While a medical resident in Japan during World War II, Wada researched a technique which decreased the cognitive side effects of electroconvulsive therapy.
Teresa Susmaras has studied dualism, or the dual brain theory.   First posited by Rene Descartes in the early 1600’s, dual brain theory holds that each hemisphere of the brain may perceive and react to the environment independently.  Further, one hemisphere may theoretically dominate the other as the result of emotional trauma, effectively protecting the traumatized hemisphere.  Dual brain theory rises from studies of epileptic patients who have undergone corpus callosum separation in an attempt to reduce seizures and their severity.  Studies with intact corpora callosa in healthy subjects have also indicated differing abilities and emotional reactions of the brain hemispheres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wada_test
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_brain_theory

Blog | Teresa Susmaras

Blog | Teresa Susmaras

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