[Group work in neuropsychological therapy]

The section "Psychology in the Neurological Department" at the Hardtwaldklinik I, of Bad Zwesten, can look back at 18 years of experience with neuropsychological group therapy within the neurological rehabilitation setting. The functions of the psychological section can be subdivided into diagnostic tasks on the one hand, and therapeutical interventions concerning cognitive and emotional aspects on the other, with psychotherapy having a mediating function, depending on the individual indication at hand. Depending on the kind and degree of the neurological impairment present, and based on detailed diagnostics, the patients are treated in the field of cognitive performance either individually or in groups. There are groups with different degrees of difficulty in line with type and extent of the selective disorders present. Experiences have shown that neuropsychological group therapy in particular is aimed at a holistic approach to the pattern of interference and the patient's personality. The possibilities for intervention and therapy are diverse, and range from play material to computer-based individual or group therapy. In the framework of internal quality assurance, experiences have shown that the effects of neuropsychological group therapy are not easily validated. In this respect, the subjective estimates of therapist and patient are the predominant, if not the only, criteria in terms of improved mental functioning.