None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The effectiveness of psychological treatments for depression in People with epilepsy (PWE) is currently unknown, although there are some encouraging results to suggest that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) might have a useful role (Ramarantnam, Baker, & Goldstein, 2008). This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a CBT intervention to improve Quality of Life (QoL) and mood in people with epilepsy. This study will be the first to help us to assess the effectiveness of CBT interventions in an Australian sample to improve quality of life and mood in PWE. In addition, it will help us to develop an understanding of two important additional questions: do particular sub-groups benefit more than others from CBT and what are the mechanisms of treatment change? The costs of depression in epilepsy are high both for the individuals concerned, in terms of quality of life and seizure activity, but also for society due to greater economic and health care costs in those with untreated depression and epilepsy (Cramer, Blum, Fanning, & Reed, 2004). Neurologists report that they tend not to screen for depression due to lack of available resources for its treatment (Gilliam et al., 2004), and so the development of an effective and available local service may increase the overall rates of detection and treatment in this group.
Interventions
If participants agree to take part in this study they will be randomly allocated to one of two conditions, an immediate treatment condition or a waitlist control. The immediate treatment condition involves a detailed assessment of psychological functioning and 8 weeks of individual psychological treatment based on cognitive behavioural therapy principles. This program is specific to improving quality of life and mood in the context of epilepsy. Each weekly treatment session lasts 50 mins. Therap
If participants agree to take part in this study they will be randomly allocated to one of two conditions, an immediate treatment condition or a waitlist control. The immediate treatment condition involves a detailed assessment of psychological functioning and 8 weeks of individual psychological treatment based on cognitive behavioural therapy principles. This program is specific to improving quality of life and mood in the context of epilepsy. Each weekly treatment session lasts 50 mins. Therapy will include the following elements; completion of weekly seizures & trigger diaries; education about epilepsy and its affects on quality of life, goal-setting; the role and management of lifestyle factors, sleep, alcohol, exercise, diet; implementation of lifestyle management plan, management of ictal / post-ictal mood symptoms; behavioural aspects of mood impairment: role of pleasant events and avoidance; implementation of behavioural management of mood strategies; cognitive aspects of mood impairment: identifying unhelpful thoughts. Behavioural aspects of mood impairment: graded exposure; monitoring unhelpful thoughts with mood diary; cognitive aspects of mood impairment: challenging unhelpful thoughts; challenging unhelpful thoughts with mood diary. Implementation of graded exposure; social aspects of living with epilepsy: talking with others and assertiveness; talking to key others about change to management of epilepsy; relapse prevention strategies; development and practice of relapse prevention strategies; and review and re-setting of goals for future.
Sponsors
Royal Prince Alfred
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Treatment
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
People with Epilepsy
Exclusion criteria
About to undergo major surgery or significant change to medication Significantly impaired cognitive functioning psychosis inability to speak English
Outcome results
None listed