Rehabilitation psychology and neuropsychology are specialty areas within psychology that assist individuals with traumatic, acute, or chronic injuries or illnesses. The presence of psychology in medical settings is now recognized as a standard of care given the medical and psychological complexity of many patients.
The MultiCare Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Psychology group emphasizes interdisciplinary teamwork as an essential feature of practice and services within a network of biological, psychological, social, and environmental considerations. The goals of achieving optimal psychological and physical functioning for both inpatients and outpatients are accomplished in a number of ways:
Psychological and behavioral interventions
At MultiCare Good Samaritan, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation psychology services include behavioral and psychological interventions to assist patients and their families to cope with the challenges of chronic illness, chronic pain, and disability. Managing emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal difficulties that arise in medical settings helps improve medical quality of care and patient quality of life. Psychologists serve a variety of individuals with neurological (e.g., spinal cord injury, stroke, acquired brain trauma), orthopedic, chronic illness, amputations, and chronic pain conditions.
In general, psychologists at Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Hospital provide services for:
- Psychotherapy and behavioral interventions for medical patients
- Behavioral pain management
- Biofeedback-assisted relaxation training
- Behavioral sleep interventions
- Patient and family education
- Psychological evaluations
- Medical decision making, surgical candidacy, chronic opioid management candidacy
- Brief interventions for improving psychosocial readiness for medical or surgical treatments
- Neuropsychological assessment
Psychological and neuropsychological assessment
Psychological assessment can involve evaluation of an individual’s emotional and behavioral functioning. Psychologists at Good Samaritan also have experience conducting other medical psychology evaluations such as pre-surgical psychological evaluations. These evaluations result in recommendations relevant to patients, families, and other health care providers.
Neuropsychological assessment evaluates an individual’s cognitive functioning in a wide range of domains (e.g., memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and affect). These assessments guide important decisions regarding need for supervision, social/occupational issues, and competency of medical decision making.
To learn more about Rehabilitation Psychology services at Good Samaritan, please contact us at 253-697-7900.
Neuropsychology
MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital provides comprehensive neuropsychological services including assessment and treatment for both inpatients and outpatients.
Neuropsychological assessment is a critical part of evaluating people who have changes in thinking skills due to a variety of causes, such as head injury, stroke, toxic exposure, neurosurgery, neurological illness (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease) or dementia.
During an assessment, our staff evaluates a person’s thinking skills and behaviors to look for indicators of traumatic brain injury, early dementia or other neurological problems.
The information gathered during the evaluation is then considered in the context of other medical records and available history to help form a picture of the person’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses. An accurate picture of cognitive abilities provides insights into the degree of impairment, probable effects on everyday functioning and ability to benefit from treatment. It also helps determine a person’s ability to return to work, school, or independent living.
Recommended treatment following a neuropsychological evaluation may include cognitive rehabilitation therapy with a speech or occupational therapist or psychotherapy/counseling with a rehabilitation psychologist or neuropsychologist.
For more information about neuropsychology and neuropsychological assessment, call 253-697-7900.