RESUMEN
The aim of the present paper is to discuss how neuropsychological impairments affect the functioning of patients in the aftermath of aneurysmal SAH and to highlight the need for complex professional rehabilitation services for this group of patients. Following the acute stage of illness, when treatment efforts are focused on life-saving measures, a significant proportion of patients are left with long-term consequences of cerebral damage in the form of specific cognitive impairments or emotional changes. The resultant functional deficits require specialist treatment, but few patients have sufficient knowledge in this regard to allow them to seek help and the availability of specialist services is frequently restricted only to large centres of population. Patients and their families usually do not know where to turn in the face of a sudden, life-threatening illness, which changes their lives diametrically, still less, what kind of specialist help might be available to them. Bearing in mind the needs of patients and their families, there are but few centers offering cognitive therapy or other forms of psychotherapeutic intervention, that are funded under the auspices of the National Health Fund (NFZ). Furthermore, healthcare policies do not place high priority on employing adequately trained psychological therapists in neurosurgical or neurological departments, and the lack of effective cooperation between specialists from different disciplines places significant limitations on the effective rehabilitation of patients who have undergone SAH. In the following article we review the opportunities for effective rehabilitation in order to optimize the functioning of patients with brain damage following SAH.