People with serious brain injuries can develop a wide variety of cognitive, or awareness-related, difficulties, including problems with learning, memory, judgment, reasoning, decision making and concentration. These problems can be addressed with a form of rehabilitation called cognitive rehabilitation therapy, which stresses relearning of lost skills and lifestyle adjustments to compensate for the lingering effects of an injury.
Basics
Brain injuries can stem from traumatic damage to your head or from any condition that reduces your brain’s normal supply of oxygen. The precise effects of an injury vary according to a number of factors, including the injury’s location and severity and the health and age of the affected individual. Most people who experience traumatic brain injuries have some degree of alteration in their normal cognitive function, according to MayoClinic.com. Cognitive rehabilitation addresses these alterations through a formal, guided process that begins with a patient assessment.
Pre-rehab Assessment
During the assessment phase of cognitive rehabilitation, a trained therapist will conduct a detailed evaluation designed to uncover your particular awareness-related problems and lay the groundwork for a program that can effectively deal with these problems. Potential components of this evaluation include standard or customized questionnaires, interviews, tests and observations of your cognitive skills. After gathering this information, your therapist will review it and help determine the best way to conduct the active phase of your rehabilitation.
Rehab Goals and Methods
The Society for Cognitive Rehabilitation lists several common overall goals for brain injury recovery, including educating you about the details of your situation; helping you strengthen or relearn patterns of behavior you had before your injury; helping you learn new patterns of behavior that help you compensate for any permanent brain damage; and using education, pattern relearning and compensation to improve your everyday quality of life. Specific methods used for achieving these goals include memory training, the performance of visual or sound-based attention-related tasks, the use of assistive devices such as electronic paging systems or memory books, anger management, psychotherapy and a guided technique called biofeedback.
Gauging Your Recovery
Cognitive rehabilitation is a highly individualized process, and no two patients go through the exact same recovery process, the Society for Cognitive Rehabilitation and New York-Presbyterian Hospital say. Typically, your therapist will judge your recovery according to the specifics of your situation rather than trying to compare you to other brain injury patients. In most cases, a rehabilitation program lasts anywhere from four to six months. However, the length of your particular program depends largely on how quickly you progress toward the goals set by you and your therapist.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Traumatic Brain Injury; Complications; Sept. 16, 2011
- Society for Cognitive Rehabilitation; What Is Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy?; 2010
- Brain Injury Association of Utah: What Is Brain Injury?
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: NINDS Traumatic Brain Injury Information Page
- Center for Cognitive Rehabilitation and Neurofeedback: What Is Cognitive Rehabilitation?
- Aetna; Clinical Policy Bulletin; Cognitive Rehabilitation
