Neuropsychological rehabilitation in acquired brain injury: a question of identity? (Rehabilitación neuropsicológica en el daño cerebral adquirido: ¿una cuestión de identidad?)

Abstract

Acquired brain injury (ABI) can affect personal identity. This means that neuropsychological rehabilitation programmes for people with ABI must cover cognitive, behavioural and emotional aspects, as well as identity issues. Interventions for the treatment of post-ABI identity issues are essentially categorized into two conceptual currents: individual interventions, based on the idea that ABI generates an experience of discontinuity between pre-injury identity and post-injury identity; and relational-social interventions, which approach the problem from an interpersonal perspective, foregrounding how interactions with third parties contribute to the construction, negative or positive, of post-ABI identity. Both types of interventions do not have to be mutually exclusive, and can be combined throughout the rehabilitation process. Although they differ in their procedures and techniques, their goal is the same: to help people live fulfilling lives that have meaning, purpose and value.