Psychological Intervention in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Abstract

Objective. To provide a brief and comprehensive summary of recent research regarding psychological interventions for patients surviving a traumatic brain injury. Methods. A bibliographical search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsycNET, Scopus, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar online databases. Analysis included distribution by year of publication, age stage of participants (paediatric, adult), location of the research team, study design, type of intervention, and main outcome variables. Results. The initial search eliciting 1541 citations was reduced to 62 relevant papers. Most publications had adult samples (88.7%). The United States outstands as the country with more research (58.1%); Latin America countries provided no results. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was the most widely used approach for treatment of (sub)clinical mental disturbances (41.9%). Neuropsychological interventions were scarce (4.8%). Outcome measures included psychiatric disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety) (37.1%), postconcussive symptoms (16.1%), cognitive and functional deficits (48.1%), and social and psychological dimensions (62.9%). Conclusions. CBT outstands as the preferred therapeutic approach for treating behavioural and emotional disturbances. Also, other related therapies such as dialectical behaviour, mindfulness, and acceptance and commitment therapies have been proposed, and probably in the years to come, more literature regarding their effectiveness will be available. On the other hand, evidence showed that interventions from the field of neuropsychology are minimal if compared with its contribution to assessment. Future research should be aimed at performing studies on more diverse populations (e.g., nonmilitary communities and paediatric and Latin American populations) and at controlling designs to examine the therapeutic efficacy of psychotherapeutic and neurocognitive rehabilitation interventions and compare amelioration by injury severity, age of patients, and clinical profile, in the hopes of creating better guidelines for practitioners.

A systematic review on integrated care for traumatic brain injury, mental health, and substance use

“…Taken together, these studies report on a range of strategies to address cognitive challenges. The value of cognitive accommodations for TBI has also been recognized outside of the research included in this review [ 21 , 108 – 110 ]. For example, accommodations for cognitive, emotional, and physical challenges related to TBI may improve the effectiveness of PTSD treatment for individuals with comorbid TBI and PTSD, particularly when they have been deemed “non-responsive” to treatments normally deemed effective [ 21 ].…”

Therapeutic Effects of Meditation, Yoga, and Mindfulness‐Based Interventions for Chronic Symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

“…light cognitive activity; Reed et al, 2019) treatment strategies to aid recovery, but these methods do not directly target emotional and psychological symptoms. Cognitive behavioral therapy is frequently used when treating psychological symptoms of TBI (Gómez‐de‐Regil, Estrella‐Castillo, & Vega‐Cauich, 2019), but it may not be feasible for all populations.…”

Psychotherapeutic Intervention for Adults With Acquired Brain Injury: A Case Study Using BackUp

“…CBT has been shown to be efficacious for the treatment of a variety of psychological consequences but despite the vast literature demonstrating this, relatively few studies have focused on the development of a specific CBT intervention for improving mood and coping after brain injury ( 47 – 49 ). Nevertheless, in addition to being the empirically validated treatment of choice for a range of psychiatric disorders, there is an increasing amount of literature illustrating that CBT can be successfully adapted and applied to a diverse set of neurological and medical populations ( 50 ). Anson and Ponsford ( 51 ) evaluated the effectiveness of a CBT-based coping skills intervention for 31 individuals with TBI.…”