COMPUTER-ASSISTED COGNITIVE REHABILITATION OF CHRONIC PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS

Patients with chronic psychiatric disorders have been found to have significant cognitive deficits. This study examined the effectiveness of computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation on 69 inpatients diagnosed with psychotic disorders at a V.A. Medical Center The treatment group (N = 40) showed significant improvement on most memory subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale, as well as on the Trailmaking Test (Parts A and B), and reported significantly fewer cognitive complaints. Control subjects (N = 29) showed no changes on th ese variables. These results indicate that psychiatric patients can productively work with computers, and that computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation can produce short-term improvements in psychiatric inpatients' cognitive performance.