Approaches to the Rehabilitation and Treatment of the Brain-Damaged Patient

Abstract

As in most health-related fields, there is a great deal of variation in the ways in which brain-damaged patients are treated and rehabilitated. These variations are associated with a number of factors, including differences in treatment setting, professional training, and theoretical orientation. In this chapter, we will first discuss these variations under the general headings of treatment settings, the rehabilitation disciplines, and philosophical and theoretical orientations. This discussion will be followed by our attempt to develop a multidimensional approach to rehabilitation. We will include reviews of several components of the research and clinical literature regarding rehabilitation of brain-damaged adults. As pointed out in Chapter 1, the term brain damage covers a wide variety of disorders, so one can expect various interactions among patient variables and treatment settings, relevant professional disciplines, and approaches taken to treatment. These interactions will be discussed throughout the chapter.