Psychological status after stroke as measured by the Hand Test

Forty-two patients with recent cerebral vascular accidents (cva) and 32 hospitalized patients without brain damage were administered the Hand Test. The CVA group consisted of 24 patients with right cerebral involvement, 10 patient with left cerebral involvement, and 8 patients with bilateral impairment. The mean age of the brain-damaged group was 48.3 years. The Hand Test was administered from .5 month to 3 months after the insult in the CVA group, and 1 month to 4 years after theinitial appearance of the chief complaint in the non-brain-damaged group. The median test was used to analyze the data. The brain-damaged group showed less aggressive, more withdrawn behavior and have greater difficulty in dealing with reality. The high tendency of brain-damaged patients to withdraw from reality can be viewed as a regressive process due to impaired cognitive functioning and emotional constriction.