This is a part of podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center discussing emotional challenges after a traumatic burn injury (TBI). In this segment, Dr. Dawn Neumann discusses negative attribution interventions after TBI. 

The intervention for negative attributions is a small group therapy program where there are about four to six individuals in a group and two facilitators. And the facilitators include a neuropsychologist and a speech pathologist. And so we're still learning how this all works in the dynamic. I think it's pretty important that it is a neuropsychologist is in the room to help lead this intervention. But as part of the exercises of the group, we kind of do showing people some hypothetical scenarios using videos and then having them make interpretations about reasons for the people's actions in the videos. And then we have them do some role playing. That's one exercise. Another exercise that we do is we do this chair exercise and we have them come up with a personal situation, something that happened to them that upset them. And with this chair exercise, they sit in one chair and they are themselves in this chair. And they will kind of rework through this situation as themself in that one chair. And then they will move physically to another chair and become the other person in the scenario. And now they have to really put themselves in the frame of mind that they are this other person, what am I thinking? What am I feeling?  

And that what is that full experience? And then it starts to shift what their thought process is about the reasons for this other person's behavior when they actually become this other person. Perspective taking is not easy. I think the activity that we're doing, it puts some structure on it to help make it a little bit more concrete for the person. It's a very interesting thing because as we were getting ready to launch the study, I actually had to be a pretend participant. And I remember just being surprised by the power of it and the intensity of it and how it just somewhat feels more natural than you would expect, and it really kind of sweeps you away. It was interesting. That said, it is a difficult exercise to do and so there will be some limitations with people who have certain levels of cognitive difficulties. People who may be more concrete or have more difficulty thinking abstractly may have more trouble with that type of exercise. 

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