Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for Neurologic Diseases

Abstract

This chapter examines the main concepts underlying cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT), a set of techniques aimed at restoring or compensating acquired cognitive deficits due to neurological conditions (stroke, traumatic brain injury, dementia, etc.). CRT is a fundamental process that gives the patient the proper route to recover from the functional disability caused by their disease. It enhances cognitive functions hierarchically, in order to give back to patients as more independence as possible in their everyday environment. Moreover, wherever necessary, it can find solutions to adapt the environment to the subjects needs and make the patient able to use alternative strategies to overcome residual impairments. CRT is commonly adopted for stroke or head trauma patient, but recently it has been used also for people with dementia.