COGNITIVE-COGNITIVE REHABILITATION
According to the World Health Organisation, stroke is the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability globally.
After a stroke, we may encounter a number of problems that vary depending on the type of stroke, its localisation and the extent of the damage. After a stroke, we may have difficulty in controlling some of our limbs, and some cognitive disorders may also occur in the patient. These disorders are common and affect the quality of life of the individual.
Attention and memory of the person who has had a stroke may be impaired. They may have language problems, problems in visual spatial perception or judgement disorders may be observed. For example, patients with memory impairment may have difficulty in learning new information, may have difficulty in remembering past events or may have short-term memory problems.
Patients with attention and concentration problems may have difficulty focusing on one task for a long time or may have difficulty doing more than one task at the same time.
Some neglect behaviours may develop in patients with visual spatial perception disorder. Especially in right hemisphere damage, visual neglect, i.e. neglecting one side, may be observed. Or the patient may have difficulty in perceiving the position of objects in space.
At the point where one or more of these problems are seen together, cognitive rehabilitation should be mentioned. Cognitive rehabilitation is a therapy process applied to manage and improve the cognitive difficulties experienced by patients due to damage or impairment in brain function. This type of rehabilitation aims to regain cognitive skills, strengthen existing skills or reduce the effects of the loss of these skills.
In cognitive rehabilitation, the work is completely tailored to the person who has had a stroke and his/her needs. Firstly, in the early period, all cognitive processes of the patient are evaluated to determine which processes are preserved and which processes are impaired. Then, a comprehensive rehabilitation plan focusing on the damaged and impaired cognitive processes of the patient is determined.
Improving attention and focusing skills, improving memory functions, increasing problem solving, planning and organisation skills can be shown as examples of cognitive therapy studies.
With cognitive rehabilitation, it is expected that the person's impaired cognitive skills will improve and adapt to daily life more easily.
Cognitive rehabilitation can be categorised under 2 headings; restorative and compensatory.
In restorative studies, the patient aims to improve the functions of impaired cognitive areas with task-specific repetitive exercises. For example, repetitive attention exercises and memory exercises can be given as examples of restorative exercises.
In compensatory strategies, methods that can help patients in their daily lives are determined, for example, all kinds of calendars, post-its, alarms or a method that the person prefers to use privately, and the focus is on teaching alternative ways for the patient to achieve their goals.
The effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation in stroke patients is supported by many studies. As a result of targeted interventions and repetitive studies, there are studies showing that patients have improved cognitive skills and increased participation in daily life.
