Abstract
In the last few years, the term “higher brain dysfunction” is appearing as common word in news media and public administration. However, in medical fields there is no general agreement about the definition of this term. In the field of rehabilitation medicine, there have been many diagnostic and therapeutic trials in this subject for more than 20 years. In that effort, the major focus has been placed on discrete neurological symptoms such as aphasia, apraxia and agnosia due to cerebrovascular accidents. In recent years, because of advanced emergency medicine, the patients with diffuse brain injury, such as traumatic brain injury, are survived and come to rehabilitation scene. They tend to have cognitive, emotional and psychosocial disorders that are hard to be evaluated and treated. There are not sufficient volume and quality of system to support these individuals with “higher brain dysfunction”. The care-givers organization was established in 1998 and their publicity has led this sudden popularity of this term.
