Only Modest Evidence Supports Use Of Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) may be useful for treating traumatic brain injury (TBI), but overall there is insufficient evidence to develop definitive guidelines on applying these therapies or to determine which type of CRT will work best for a particular patient, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Millions of people in the U.S., from auto-crash victims to veterans of war, live with the aftereffects of TBI. The Department of Defense asked the IOM to study the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation therapy for treatment of TBI.

CRT is a patient-specific, goal-oriented approach to help patients increase their ability to process and interpret information. The IOM committee supported the use of CRT for people suffering from TBI but said that methodological shortcomings in the studies and challenges in studying the use of CRT in this patient population limited the evidence underlying its use.

To read more about traumatic brain injury and potential treatments, see Psychiatric News at
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/45/19/6.1.full and http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/19/22.1.full. The Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury from American Psychiatric Publishing covers multiple issues related to TBI. Information is posted at
www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62357.

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