Sickness treatment or health care: Implications for head injury

Rehabilitation of the individual with traumatic brain injury (TBI) requires a systems approach that views the functioning of the individual as a balance among the psychosocial features of the person, the physical status of the body, and the environment in which the person behaves. This balance fluctuates across a lifetime, particularly in the first several years after TBI. The article attempts to describe the systems aspects of rehabilitation of the person with TBI by using both a sickness treatment approach and a health care approach. Suggestions for policy changes at the national level are offered.