Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (PDF)

The neuropsychological rehabilitation of patients with brain in­ juries presents a new challenge for medicine and psychology. In any society patients who have suffered a stroke or a traumatic brain lesion constitute a large group requiring special therapy; even nowadays only a small group of these patients obtain adequate rehabilitational support. Brain injuries may lead to loss or impair­ ment of functions like language, sight, memory, attention, emo­ tional control, or movement, and such impairments are usually ac­ companied by handicaps in the patient's daily life. Every attempt should be made to improve functional competence and the pa­ tient's capacity to cope with their disability and handicap. In recent years, the aim of much research in the basic sciences has been to gain insight into the mechanisms of restitution of function, partly by trying to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms that are initiated by a traumatic event. However, in spite of this broad research initiative into recovery of function and the possibilities of cognitive remediation, our knowledge is still rather limited, with respect to both the neurobiological mecha­ nisms that may underlie functional plasticity and the factors that may account for neuropsychological rehabilitation. In spite of these shortcomings, we would like to stress that progress can only be expected if an intense research effort is made to unite the con­ cepts and results from the basic sciences with the practical demands of neuropsychological rehabilitation.