Since stress exacerbates post-concussion symptoms, and vice versa, an important part of treatment is reassurance that PCS symptoms are normal, and education about how to deal with impairments. One study found that PCS patients who were coached to return to activities gradually, told what symptoms to expect, and trained how to manage them had a reduction in symptoms compared to a control group of uninjured people. Early education has been found to reduce symptoms in children as well. Neurotherapy
Neurotherapy is an operant conditioning test where patients are given conditional audio/visual rewards after producing particular types of brainwave activity. Recent neurotherapy improvements in quantitative electroencephalography can identify the specific brainwave patterns that need to be corrected. Studies have shown that neurotherapy is effective in the treatment of post-concussion syndrome and other disorders with similar symptoms. Prognosis
The prognosis for PCS is generally considered positive, with total resolution of symptoms in many, but not all, cases. For 50% of people, post-concussion symptoms go away within a few days to several weeks after the original injury occurs. In others, symptoms may remain for three to six months, but evidence indicates that many cases are completely resolved within six months. The majority of symptoms are largely gone in about half of people with concussion one month after the injury, and about two thirds of people with minor head trauma are nearly symptom-free within three months. Persistent, often severe headaches are the longest lingering symptom in most cases and are the most likely symptom to never fully resolve.
Another study found that although children with PCS had poorer scores on tests of cognitive functioning after the injury, they also had poorer behavioral adjustment before the injury than children with no persistent symptoms; these findings support the idea that PCS may result from a combination of factors such as brain dysfunction resulting from head injury and preexisting psychological or social problems. Different symptoms may be predicted by different factors; for example, one study found that cognitive and physical symptoms were not predicted by the manner in which parents and family members coped with the injury and adjusted to its effects, but psychological and behavioral symptoms were.Brain inflammation is suggested to play a role in post-concussive syndrome. Psychological
It has been argued that psychological factors play an important role in the presence of post-concussion symptoms. The development of PCS may be due to a combination of factors such as adjustment to effects of the injury, preexisting vulnerabilities, and brain dysfunction. Setbacks related to the injury, for example problems at work or with physical or social functioning, may act as stressors that interact with preexisting factors such as personality and mental conditions to cause and perpetuate PCS. In one study, levels of daily stress were found to be correlated to PCS symptoms in both concussed subjects and controls, but in another, stress was not significantly related to symptoms.Iatrogenic effects (those caused by the medical intervention) may also occur when individuals are provided with misleading or incorrect information related to recovery of symptoms.