Cognitive Rehabilitation Strategies
GUEST POST.
Image Photo by Shawn Day on Unsplash
If you’ve suffered a severe brain injury, then you’ll need to undergo the right rehabilitation in order to make a full recovery. If your memory, attention span, or problem-solving abilities have been blunted, then the right exercises might help you to get them sharp again. That’s the function of cognitive rehabilitation.
If you’re suffering from cognitive difficulties following an accident, then you might benefit from specialised support and guidance. If the cost of this is prohibitive, you might pursue compensation through a brain injury claim to cover it. This is worthwhile especially if the difficulties you’re facing are a result of medical negligence, or an accident caused by a negligent party, like an employer.
Understanding Cognitive Rehabilitation
Any therapeutic approach that’s structured in order to restore cognitive function is known as cognitive rehabilitation. Rehab can be pursued within a hospital setting, or at home. It can be restorative, which means retraining the brain to approach the same problems from a different angle, or it can be compensatory – which means looking for new ways to deal with the cognitive difficulties faced by patients.
The analogy of muscle rebuilding can be useful. However, it’s important to note that, unlike muscle cells, brain cells do not regenerate. Therefore, the role of cognitive rehab is not to stress the organ and produce new growth, but to allow the brain to reorganise itself, and create new pathways through the grey matter.
Practical Strategies for Memory Improvement
When patients are suffering from memory loss, one way of tackling the problem is through mnemonics. You might attach a given piece of information to another piece of information you already know. For example, it’s easy to remember the names of the planets if you can remember the phrase ‘My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets’.
External aids, like apps, notebooks, and alarms, can all help a patient to get through day-to-day life. Establishing a simple routine can lower the demands on a patient’s memory, too.
Enhancing Attention and Concentration
If you’re struggling to pay attention in the wake of brain injury, then you might consider the now-popular practice of mindfulness training. This is a form of meditation that encourages practitioners to focus on the present moment, and to limit outside distractions. You can build up this skill with the help of guided instruction, or through the right apps.
Problem-Solving and Executive Function Strategies
Among the most consequential cognitive skills concern our ability to make decisions and plan for the future. Building these skills through cognitive therapy might help us to make better plans, and to overcome the challenges we face in life. The right cognitive behavioural therapy can be helpful – as can the right frameworks for decision-making, and the ability to recognise negative emotions like frustration, and to manage them.
This is a guest post and therefore these are not necessarily the views of Index Digital.
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