In search of the 'self': Holistic rehabilitation in restoring cognition and recovering the 'self' following traumatic brain injury: A case report.
Meenakshi Banerjee, Shantala Hegde, Harish Thippeswamy and 2 others
PMID 33664160WHAT IT FOUND
A young woman with traumatic brain injury felt she had lost her sense of self.
A holistic programme combining cognitive training, music, social media and family therapy helped her rebuild autobiographical memories and mood, though this is a single case report.
Key findings
01The patient reported an inability to experience her sense of self and a disconnect between her past and present identity, alongside deficits in autobiographical memory.
02Following a multi-modal intervention including cognitive remediation, music therapy, and social media use, the patient showed improvements in neuropsychological scores, mood, and self-reported social functioning.
03The authors note that while the patient regained some sense of self, she did not return to her previous full-time technical employment and continues to adjust to a new identity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
This is a single case report, so results cannot be generalised to other patients. Multiple assessments at various time points were missing due to challenges, limiting the analysis of change over time. The intervention was highly individualised and tailored to this specific patient's milieu, making it difficult to replicate in a larger cohort.
Declared interests
The corresponding author is a recipient of a Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance Intermediate Clinical Fellowship.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this holistic approach will restore a patient's pre-injury self or employment. This is a single case with no control group, and the patient did not return to her previous full-time technical job despite improvements in mood and cognition.