An integrative neuro‐psychotherapy treatment to foster the adjustment in acquired brain injury patients—a randomized controlled study

Abstract

Adjustment disorders (AjD) with depressive symptoms following an acquired brain injury (ABI) is a common phenomenon. Although brain injuries are increasing more and more, research on psychological therapies is comparably scarce. The present study compared, by means of a randomized controlled trial (RCT), a newly developed integrative treatment (Standard PLUS) to a standard neuropsychological treatment (Standard). Primary outcomes were depressive symptoms assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI‐II) at post‐treatment and 6‐month follow‐up assessment. In total, 25 patients (80% after a stroke) were randomized to one of the two conditions. Intention‐to‐treat analyses showed that the two groups did not significantly differ either at post‐treatment nor at follow‐up assessment regarding depressive symptoms. Both treatments showed large within‐group effect sizes on depressive symptoms. Regarding secondary outcomes, patients in the Standard PLUS condition reported more emotion regulation skills at post‐assessment than in the control condition. However, this difference was not present anymore at follow‐up assessment. Both treatments showed medium to large within‐group effects sizes on most measures for patients suffering from an AjD after ABI. More research with larger samples is needed to investigate who profits from which intervention.