Updated March 15, 2006.
Thomas Deters, Ph.D. is a neuropsychologist. Neuropsychologists also have a degree in psychology, usually clinical psychology. They have specialized in neuropsychological testing. This type of testing involves asking someone to perform a series of mental or behavioral tasks (such as putting together puzzles or tapping certain fingers at a rapid pace). By examining the pattern of the person's performance the neuropsychologist can often tell whether there has been brain damage, and can get a good idea where the damage is located.
They can also diagnose learning disabilities and similar problems. Deters' report suggests that Tyson does suffer from "mild to possibly moderate neurobehavioral compromise." (Deters, 1998, p.6). He also found Tyson to have significant strengths which tend to balance these deficits.
David Henderson, M.D.
, a psychiatrist, and Barry Jordan, M.D., a neurologist also took part in the evaluation.
This is an unusually extensive evaluation. Someone paid thousands of dollars for these professionals' time and effort, not to mention the expense of the imaging and the labwork. This is an unusual opportunity for the public to get a close look at the different approaches that professionals use to evaluate the brain and the mind. It is unfortunate that Mike Tyson's privacy was so brutally violated in the process.
Sources used in this article include the original documents released to the public, along with following:
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