| Course | PS215 Neuroscience |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Identity after brain injury paper |
| Length | About 520 words, 4 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Psychology |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PS215 Unit 9
Choir Director Without a Voice: A PS215 Unit 9 Paper on Identity After Brain Injury
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
PS215: Neuroscience
Unit 9 Identity After Brain Injury Paper
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The stroke survivor, his therapy and his family are composite; the research cited is real.
An Identity Built on a Voice
For forty years Harold led choirs. He described himself first as a musician and a teacher; his voice was his instrument and his way of leading. After his stroke left him with nonfluent aphasia, he could not explain a phrase to a singer or tell a story at dinner. He told his daughter, in short broken phrases, that he was nobody now.
Research on identity after acquired brain injury describes this experience. People often report a sharp break between the person they were and the person they have become, and the size of that perceived change is associated with depression and lower well-being (Ownsworth, 2014). Identity is threatened not only by lost abilities but by lost roles, and Harold had lost the role at the center of his life.
Melodic Intonation Therapy
Harold's speech therapist offered melodic intonation therapy, which uses the preserved capacity for singing to help people with nonfluent aphasia produce words. Short phrases are intoned on two pitches with a steady rhythm, while the therapist taps the patient's left hand, and over many sessions the melody is gradually reduced toward normal speech (Norton et al., 2009). The approach is thought to recruit right-hemisphere regions involved in melody and rhythm and to engage motor planning through the tapping, though research on how well it works, and for whom, is still developing.
The therapy reached Harold's words through the part of him the stroke had left most intact.
For Harold, the therapy did more than produce words. It made his musical skill the route to recovery rather than a reminder of what he had lost.
Rebuilding a Role
Six months after the stroke, the church where Harold had led the choir invited him to sit in on rehearsals. At first he only listened. Later he began marking scores for the new director, then leading warm-up exercises using gestures and singing rather than spoken instructions. He could not run a rehearsal as he once had, but he was a musician and a teacher again. His daughter noticed that his mood improved more after he returned to the choir room than at any point in therapy alone.
Researchers on identity after injury describe recovery as reconstructing a sense of self that connects past and present, often by finding new ways to fulfill valued roles rather than returning to old ones unchanged (Ownsworth, 2014).
What the Case Shows
The neuroscience explains Harold's losses and the route his therapy took; the psychology explains why recovery required more than restored speech. A brain injury can damage the abilities through which a person expresses who they are (Kalat, 2019). Rebuilding identity means finding other means of expression and roles that still fit. In Harold's case, the same musical abilities that survived the stroke made both possible.
References
Kalat, J. W. (2019). Biological psychology (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Norton, A., Zipse, L., Marchina, S., & Schlaug, G. (2009). Melodic intonation therapy: Shared insights on how it is done and why it might help. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169(1), 431-436. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04859.x
Ownsworth, T. (2014). Self-identity after brain injury. Psychology Press.
What the PS215 Unit 9 assignment asks for
Unit 9 of PS215 commonly asks how brain injury can change identity, personality or sense of self, and how people rebuild it. Describe the person's identity before the injury in concrete terms: roles, skills and what they valued. Explain how the injury affected the abilities behind that identity, drawing on neuroscience from earlier units. Use research on identity after brain injury to interpret the person's experience. Describe at least one intervention, its rationale and the current evidence for it, with appropriate caution. Show how the person rebuilt or adapted their identity, and include their own perspective. Finish by stating what this one person's story reveals about how a brain carries a self. Cite neuroscience and identity research in APA style.
How the PS 215 Unit 9 example is put together
The paper opens with Harold's forty years as a choir director and his statement after the stroke. A section draws on Ownsworth to describe the perceived break between past and present self and its link to depression. Melodic intonation therapy is explained through two-pitch intonation, left-hand tapping and gradual fading toward speech, with Norton and colleagues and a note that evidence is still developing, under a highlighted line that therapy reached his words through his most intact abilities. A section follows his return to rehearsals, from listening to marking scores and leading warm-ups. The close names surviving musical abilities as the route to both speech and identity.
Where the points sit in the PS215 Unit 9 rubric
Credit depends on connecting neuroscience to the person's sense of self. Instructors look for the pre-injury identity described concretely and the injury's effects explained through the brain systems involved. Research on identity after injury should interpret the case, not sit in a separate section. Interventions earn credit when their rationale is explained and their evidence reported honestly. The person's own perspective, even through a family member's account, is valued. A conclusion that states what the case shows about brain and self gives the paper a point. Neuroscience and psychological sources cited accurately, with the composite nature of the case acknowledged, complete the expectations. Showing the route back to a role, not just the loss, is what lifts these papers.
Common PS215 Unit 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Many papers describe the injury and its symptoms in detail but say little about identity beyond a sentence on sadness. Others discuss identity abstractly with no link to the brain. Interventions are often presented as cures, without acknowledging limited evidence. Students sometimes describe the person only through others' eyes, leaving out their own view. Roles and values before the injury are frequently skipped, which makes the loss hard to understand. Before submitting, list the roles your person held, name the abilities the injury affected, connect each change to identity research, describe one intervention with its evidence and include at least one statement of how the person saw the change.
Get a PS215 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Send the case and the instructions with the rubric. A custom paper examines identity after injury with research and a case. It comes back within 24-48h, and the first is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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PS215 Unit 9 questions, answered
Can a stroke change personality?
It can change mood, behavior and abilities, which may alter how a person and their family see themselves.
What is melodic intonation therapy?
A therapy that uses melody and rhythm to help some people with nonfluent aphasia produce words.
Should the paper include the person's perspective?
Yes; identity is partly how the person understands the change.
Where can I find a free PS215 Unit 9 sample paper?
The full PS215 Unit 9 paper is on this page, on identity after a composite choir director's stroke and his return to music.
What is melodic intonation therapy in the PS215 Unit 9 sample?
A therapy that intones short phrases on two pitches with hand tapping, gradually fading the melody toward ordinary speech.