RT Journal Article
T1 Intensive Communicative Therapy Reduces Symptoms of Depression in Chronic Nonfluent Aphasia.
A1 Mohr, Bettina
A1 Stahl, Benjamin
A1 Berthier, Marcelo L
A1 Pulvermüller, Friedemann
K1 aphasia
K1 communication
K1 depression
K1 language therapy
K1 neurological rehabilitation
AB Patients with brain lesions and resultant chronic aphasia frequently suffer from depression. However, no effective interventions are available to target neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with aphasia who have severe language and communication deficits. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of 2 different methods of speech and language therapy in reducing symptoms of depression in aphasia on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) using secondary analysis (BILAT-1 trial). In a crossover randomized controlled trial, 18 participants with chronic nonfluent aphasia following left-hemispheric brain lesions were assigned to 2 consecutive treatments: (1) intensive language-action therapy (ILAT), emphasizing communicative language use in social interaction, and (2) intensive naming therapy (INT), an utterance-centered standard method. Patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups, receiving both treatments in counterbalanced order. Both interventions were applied for 3.5 hours daily over a period of 6 consecutive working days. Outcome measures included depression scores on the BDI and a clinical language test (Aachen Aphasia Test). Patients showed a significant decrease in symptoms of depression after ILAT but not after INT, which paralleled changes on clinical language tests. Treatment-induced decreases in depression scores persisted when controlling for individual changes in language performance. Intensive training of behaviorally relevant verbal communication in social interaction might help reduce symptoms of depression in patients with chronic nonfluent aphasia.
PB Sage
YR 2017
FD 2017-12-01
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10668/11862
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10668/11862
LA en
NO Mohr B, Stahl B, Berthier ML, Pulvermüller F. Intensive Communicative Therapy Reduces Symptoms of Depression in Chronic Nonfluent Aphasia. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2017 Dec;31(12):1053-1062
DS RISalud
RD Apr 6, 2025