Learning from our successes and failures: Reflections and comments on “Cognitive Rehabilitation: How it is and how it might be”

Abstract

Barbara A. Wilson's article in this issue is a thoughtful and scholarly commentary on the present state of cognitive rehabilitation. Her review of the meaning of the term “rehabilitation,” and her reminder that we are better at treating disabilities than impairments after brain damage, set the background for her four major points. First, there are currently four basic approaches to cognitive rehabilitation. Second, two of these approaches are of little help to patients. Third, combining learning theory, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology is helpful in dealing with the “everyday problems of brain-injured people.” Finally, this latter approach combined with the holistic approach is promising, especially given that patients' personality disturbances must be considered if neuropsychological rehabilitation is to be effective.