Psychotherapy after mild traumatic brain injury: Relation to the nature and severity of subjective complaints

Psychotherapy after brain injury should address not only the patients' cognitive and emotional complaints but also their beliefs about their disability. The discrepancy between minimal objective neurologic findings and significant subjective complaints is a cardinal feature of mild traumatic brain injury. This can also be a central theme of the therapeutic alliance and the psychotherapy process with these patients. Consideration of the relation between persistent symptoms and perceived self-efficacy provides a basis for psychotherapeutic interventions, which seek to increase the patient's experience of competence.