Clinical Psychology –brain Injury Rehab

Clinical psychology is a branch of psychology that is concerned with the treatment of mental disorders and abnormal behavior in humans. Simplistically, it involves diagnosis and treatment of complex psychological problems in humans. Clinical psychologists are now-a-days involved in many types of diagnostic and counseling work, chiefly, in cases of rehabilitating brain injury patients.

Causes of brain injury

There can be several causes of brain injury. They can be caused by external factors like an accident, or they can be due to trauma. Here are the major types of brain injuries. Hematoma is a condition where blood clots outside blood vessels. It is dangerous if this occurs in the brain. It makes the patient lose consciousness. Hemorrhage or uncontrolled bleeding is another fatal condition if it is internal, in and around the brain. A concussion is a type of injury that occurs when the brain hits the hard skull around it. It is temporary, but if it persists, it might lead to a more permanent damage. Any brain injury can lead to edema. It is the condition wherein tissues start swelling due to injuries. A diffuse axonal injury is that which does not cause bleeding but damages brain cells. It can lead to permanent brain damage and even death.

Brain injury involves loss of consciousness, a period of confusion and sometimes might even result in coma. In case of severe injuries, the potential for recovery is limited. Minor injuries recover with specific physiological changes. However, studies have suggested that behavior therapy and clinical psychological treatments can help the brain of the patient function properly.

Psychological counseling

Psychological counseling becomes important for all neurotic or traumatic experiences no matter how trivial. Depending upon age, gender and personality, people take their own spans of time to recover. Psychological therapies involve helping the patient to return to normal life after the traumatic experience or injury. Therefore, it includes restoring the normal cognitive thought process of the patient, working on other aspects of the mind, like memory, attention, self-awareness and insight. There are other side effects of brain injury that can affect the patient’s overall well being. Aggressive behavior, depression, anxiety and communication problems are issues faced by most patients that are tackled by clinical psychologists. They have a variety of treatment processes that have very high success rates with patients suffering from mild injuries. Some treatments also work for serious cases.

The three major factors affecting the heath and well-being of a brain injury patient are environmental; like, mechanism and intensity of the trauma or injury. Personal, like age and genetics of the patient and medical care factors, like access to quality of care provided to the patients. The most positive thing for such patients is caregivers. If the patient is exposed to stimulation and proper company, he or she is most likely to recover faster. Many of the problems like, stress and communication issues can be solved if the patient is given the love and support of his family.