Cognitive rehabilitation therapy (sometime called cognitive remediation) refers to a group of treatments that help improve a person’s ability to think due to any condition that can affect brain functioning. Often times, we see patients due to medical conditions such as concussion, brain injury (from a fall, a stroke, surgery or infection, among others) or failing memory in older patients. But is it also helpful in many other situations as well. It can help the attention and executive functioning issues seen in ADHD, Autism, Bipolar or even long-COVID, among others.

Cognitive rehab therapy includes a variety of methods and approaches. They all aim to restore cognitive function. Cognitive function includes skills like attention, memory, processing speed, problem-solving, organizing, planning and multitasking.

Some approaches will work to improve or restore your thinking. Others work to build in compensatory strategies that will quickly help improve functioning while we work on actually improving what needs help. Building in schedules, routines and other strategies help make sure you prioritize all of your tasks and manage your time effectively.

Both cognitive remediation and cognitive rehab are different from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is a psychological treatment approach that helps you think through emotional and behavior patterns, whereas cognitive rehab helps improve the underlying functions that help you think.