Psychological intervention in physical disability - with special reference to spinal cord injury

Abstract

Psychological intervention following trauma presents the therapist with a wide range of situations where intervention will be of benefit to the defined patient, their families and care staff. Responses made to trauma are often essentially normal reactions to abnormal situations, which can pose problems for therapists concerning how intervention might best be initiated. The purpose of the present paper is to examine how psychological intervention may be applied in such situations, and draws on the author's experience of establishing and developing a service forpeople with spinal cord injury. Models of change are discussed and their problems highlighted. Methods of intervention are also discussed, and placed in context, in terms of a functional formulation developed for each individual case. On the basis of such assessments, development of case management initiatives has been established and led to the development of objective rehabilitation plans which have resulted in more rapid rehabilitation.