Neuropsychological rehabilitation: State of the science

Abstract

Neuropsychological rehabilitation is concerned with the amelioration of cognitive, emotional, psychosocial, and behavioural deficits caused by an insult to the brain. Major changes in the field have occurred over the past decade or so. In 2011, Wilson published an article titled ‘Cutting edge developments in neuropsychological rehabilitation and possible future directions’, in which 10 of the most important changes in neuropsychological rehabilitation over the previous 5 years were described. This article is an update of those changes: some of the topics in the 2011 article have been omitted, others added, and the order of importance has been changed. For the most part, the developments described relate to the rehabilitation of adults with non-progressive brain injury, the exceptions being a development for people with dementia and another relates to children. Topics considered are new assessment procedures, new treatment strategies for cognitive and emotional problems, recognition of the need to find new ways to evaluate the efficacy of rehabilitation, and evidence for the effectiveness of comprehensive-holistic rehabilitation.