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Grant round winners 2008
Many people with intractable epilepsy report
that psychological factors in everyday life,
for example stress levels, can affect how
often they have seizures. Some people find
that practising particular ways of thinking
can allow them to control their seizures.
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is one
way of helping this happen. CBT is a "talking
treatment": with a therapist, the person
explores how they feel about themselves
and the world, and how their actions affect
their thoughts and feelings.
Dr Laura Goldstein and her colleagues
at the Department of Psychology, Institute
of Psychiatry, King's College London, and
at the Maudsley Hospital and King's College
Hospital in London, have been developing
this treatment specifically for people with
epilepsy. They have adapted CBT techniques
to focus on how people think about their
seizures and the factors which affect how
likely they are to have seizures.
Dr Goldstein and her colleagues have now
been awarded £79,823 to carry
out an 18-month study comparing the effectiveness
of the adapted version of CBT for epilepsy
(in addition to anti-epileptic drug therapy)
with the effectiveness of drug treatment
alone. They will measure the effect of treatment
on the frequency and severity of seizures
experienced by participants, and also on
their mood and quality of life.
The study, called Cognitive behaviour
therapy for epilepsy: improving seizure
control and quality of life, will also
establish how acceptable the talking treatment
is to participants, and examine what sorts
of epilepsy are best suited to treatment
like this. The study will prepare the ground
for a full-scale trial of CBT for epilepsy
in the future. This is required before the
treatment can become available on the NHS.
This is one of nine grants made by Epilepsy
Research UK in 2008. Read
about the other grants from 2008 here
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