People with brain injury (BI) often have difficulty recognizing their own emotions (alexithymia) and the emotions of others. The first half of this session will review components of an evidence-based intervention for reducing alexithymia and related emotion dysregulation deficits in individuals with BI. The second half of this interactive session will teach attendees components of, and how to use, a freely available electronic App for treating facial affect recognition deficits that has been recommended as a practice standard in a systematic review by the Cognitive Rehabilitation Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Brief overview of the deficits, prevalence, and consequences of these impairments, along with high-level overview of the evidence behind the two interventions.

Building Emotional Self-Awareness Teletherapy (BEST) is an 8-session psychoeducation and interactive intervention that targets problems with alexithymia. This part of the session will provide a detailed review of the treatment sessions, content and exercises. The treatment tool and manual will be made available upon request.