Cognitive Rehabilitation
Like many fields, psychology has traditionally been subdivided into more specific perspectives, such as behaviorism or Gestalt psychology. Recently, advances in Cognitive therapy have proved effective with TBI patients. Cognitive psychology focuses on our thought, thinking strategy, attention, memory, and even language.
In Cognitive rehabilitation, two areas are stressed: reacquiring cognitive skills, and learning to use strategies to compensate for lost skills. As physical therapy would be used to repair a damaged muscle, cognitive therapy can be used to repair a damaged cognitive system. Therapists may help TBI patients complete exercises or tasks in order to improve skills. In cases where these skills cannot be reacquired, the therapist may teach the patient specific therapies across inter-related cognitive categories, such as memory, attention, and organization. For example, a patient may be urged to use checklists and “to-do” lists to improve organization in their daily routine.
In November 2006, the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) released an official position statement on cognitive rehabilitation. In it, the authors outline their recommendations for offering cognitive rehabilitation, along with evidence for its efficacy.
As the BIAA statement illustrates, “Persons with brain injury may also engage in services aimed at improving emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial functioning” in addition to cognitive services. The advantage of the perspective system in psychology is the ability to combine treatments in order to find the most effective program possible. For instance, cognitive and behavioral therapies can be combined with drug therapy (a biological approach), along with many other options. As doctors both improve current treatment areas and find even more ways to diversify treatment plans, expect recovery to improve for persons with brain injury.
