What is Cognitive Remediation?

Cognitive remediation is a treatment that focuses on retraining your brain’s neural pathways to improve abilities such as attention, memory, and problem-solving. It is based on neuroscientific findings about how the brain processes information and is specifically designed to enhance neural connections to improve cognition.

Cognitive remediation consists of several components. First, your therapist will help you develop goals that are linked to your ability to perform tasks in your everyday life. These goals may be linked to your ability to return to school, work, or live independently. Once you have these goals in place, the cognitive remediation approach will be specifically tailored to help you achieve those goals. During cognitive remediation you will receive access to computerized cognitive training exercises that are designed to train your brain. Your brain is just like any other muscle in your body and if you do not exercise it then it will start to weaken. In cognitive remediation we want to exercise your brain by practicing a variety of cognitive training tasks that are specially designed to exercise different cognitive abilities. You can think of these cognitive training tasks as a “brain gym”. In addition to the cognitive exercises, cognitive remediation focuses on helping you develop new cognitive strategies for performing these tasks and developing ways of using these strategies in your everyday life. Finally, just like physical exercise, cognitive exercise is best done several times per week, so in between therapy sessions you will have access to the computerized exercises to continue your brain workout.

Cognitive remediation is supported by a large body of research to improve cognitive abilities for a variety of mental health conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, and psychotic disorders. Cognitive impairments often do not respond to other forms of treatment and can cause significant issues with your ability to perform everyday activities. Cognitive remediation can provide an opportunity to regain these abilities. Book your free consultation today to learn more about how cognitive remediation can help you.