Cognitive Recovery

The following information is based upon chapter 8 in the second edition of Head Injury ‘The Facts’ (1998) by Dorothy Gronwall, Philip Wrightson, and Peter Waddel, published by Oxford University Press. This is a book written for family members of people with a TBI. It provides lots of ‘user-friendly’ information about the effects of TBI and the recovery process.

How much better will the person get?

The course of cognitive recovery depends on a number of factors. Of course, not everyone has the same sort of injury and not everyone follows the same pattern or rate of recovery. The more time that has passed since the injury occurred, the more information professionals will have available to them to help them give you information about how much better the person with a TBI is likely to get. They consider things such as how long the person has been in coma and post-traumatic amnesia, signs of injury seen on scans, and assessments of the sorts of things the person might be having difficulty with, to work out how severe the injury is. Obviously, people with a more severe injury generally take longer to recover and make a less complete recovery than those with less severe injuries.

How long will it take?

A lot of the cognitive recovery that occurs after TBI happens in the first 6-12 months after the injury. After the first 6-12 months, the person will likely continue to improve, but the rate of improvement may slow down. While much improvement takes place in the first 2 years or so, people have continued to improve five, ten or more years after a TBI. People can also improve in their ability to do things many years after their injury by learning better ways to compensate or get around for some of their problems.

Last modified: Thursday, 20 April 2006