Features of Neuropsychological Support of Patients with Impaired Consciousness at the Early Stage of Rehabilitation: a Narrative Review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. In the neuropsychological support of patients with impaired consciousness at an early stage of rehabilitation, methodological and practical problems arise related to the choice and procedure for using methods of neuropsychological diagnostics and neuropsychological rehabilitation. To develop methods of working with such patients, it is necessary to address the concepts of the structure of consciousness and the content of consciousness. RESULTS. The article presents a review of the literature devoted to the problem of the work of a neuropsychologist with patients with impaired consciousness. In the reviewed literature, attention is drawn to the insufficient development of the neuropsychological content of the concept of “consciousness”; methodological and procedural limitations that arise when a neuropsychologist works with patients with disorders of consciousness of varying degrees of severity; the possibilities of conducting and limiting psychostimulotherapy and sensory stimulation in domestic and foreign approaches are discussed. CONCLUSION. The analysis of publications on the topic of accompanying patients with impaired consciousness reflects the presence of a number of unresolved issues. At the present stage of development of neuropsychological work with patients with impaired consciousness, there is no single approved and detailed protocol regulating the conduct of neuropsychological diagnostics and neurorehabilitation with them. The problem is at the stage of solution and requires further research.