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The Treatment of Writer's Cramp with Multimodal Behaviour Therapy and Biofeedback: A Study of 15 Cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Lionel Collet
Affiliation:
Hôpital Neurologique, 59, boulevard Pinel, 69003 Lyon, France

Summary

Of 15 patients with writer's cramp (4 females, 11 males, mean age 36, range 23–50, mean duration 3.6 years), 13 entered a behavioural treatment. Nine received a multimodal treatment, and four EMG feedback alone. Four patients dropped out during the treatment phase. Nine patients were considered as improved at a follow-up between 1 and 9 months. A stress-coping model is put forward to account for the therapeutic effectiveness, and to explain the drop-outs. Writer's cramp seems to be related to stressful situations at work. The existence of personality and biological factors remains to be demonstrated.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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