Introduction:
Depression significantly affects the effects of rehabilitation, quality of life, as well as patients’ mortality. The estimated prevalence of post-stroke depression is approximately 25%–70%.

Aim:
To examine when neuropsychological rehabilitation after stroke affects the cognitive functions of people suffering from depression.

Material and methods:
42 persons after ischemic stroke suffering from depression took part in the study. The participants were in 3 weeks daily neurological rehabilitation care. Mood disorders were measured by Beck depression inventory. Cognitive functions were examined using verbal fluency test and following psychological tests: mini mental state examination, color trail test and Benton visual retention test.

Results and discussion:
Mood disorders were diagnosed in 70% of patients. The neuropsychological diagnosis revealed existing memory disorders, low resistance to distractors (30.9% participants), impaired visuospatial function (78.7%), impaired ability to recognize visual stimuli with preserved normal vision, weakened executive functions, in particular planning, initiating and sustaining activities (85.6%), rigid thinking, slackening, difficulty with focusing on the task, problems with selective attention and increased levels of anxiety. Verbal fluency deficits was diagnosed in 92.9% of patients. Significant improvements were observed for all cognitive domains after neuropsychological rehabilitation. The biggest improvement was noted in the attentional domain (73.8%), the least – in the visuo-spatial functions (21.4%).

Conclusions:
Depression is a frequent and important problem among patients with stroke, as a post-stroke depression is present in at least 30% of survivors from stroke. Psychological complications such as emotional, behavioral and cognitive disorders, can have a negative effects on the social functioning and the overall quality of life of stroke survivors.