Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:44:10.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Writer's Cramp: a Controlled Trial of Habit Reversal Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Angelika Wieck ,
Richard Harrington ,
Isaac Marks  and
Colin Marsden
Angelika Wieck*
Affiliation:
Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital, London; Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital
Richard Harrington
Affiliation:
Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital; Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital
Isaac Marks
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London, Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital
Colin Marsden
Affiliation:
University Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital
*
∗de Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In uncontrolled studies, several behavioural methods, including habit reversal, were said to be useful in writer's cramp. In this controlled study, 23 subjects with writer's cramp recruited from a neurology clinic were randomly allocated to five sessions over four weeks of either habit reversal training or a control treatment of relaxation training. Three subjects dropped out. Twenty patients (9 habit reversers, 11 controls) completed the trial up to three months follow-up. Outcome measures included observation of writing within the session, assessment of writing tasks completed at home, and blind ratings by an independent assessor. The results showed that habit reversal was no better than relaxation. Taking both treatments together, patients improved to three months follow-up on seven of nine measures, but remained substantially handicapped.

Type
Brief Reports
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 1 , July 1988 , pp. 111 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Azrin, N. H. & Nunn, R. G. (1973) Habit reversal: a method of eliminating nervous habits and tics. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 11, 619–628.Google Scholar
Azrin, N. H., Nunn, R. G. & Frantz, S. E. (1980) Habit reversal vs. negative practice treatment of nervous tics. Behaviour Therapy, 11, 169–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beech, H. R. (1960) The symptomatic treatment of writer's cramp. In Behaviour Therapy and the Neuroses (ed. Eysenck, H. J.). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Bernstein, D. A. & Borkovec, T. D. (1973) Progressive Relaxation Training: a Manual for the Helping Professions. Illinois: Research Press.Google Scholar
Bindman, E. & Tibbetts, R. W. (1977) Writer's cramp: a rational approach to treatment? British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 143–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, J. E., Gelder, M. G. & Marks, I. M. (1965) Results of behaviour therapy in 77 psychiatric patients. British Medical Journal, i, 1222–1225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisp, A. H. & Moldofsky, H. (1965) A psychosomatic study of writer's cramp. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 841–858.Google Scholar
Doongaji, D. R. (1966) The symptomatic treatment of writer's cramp by conditioning techniques. Neurology India, 14, 111–119.Google ScholarPubMed
Gibson, H. B. (1972) Writer's cramp: a behavioural approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 10, 371–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenberg, D. (1983) Writer's cramp: a habit for reversal? Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 14, 233–239.Google Scholar
Greist, J. H., Marks, I. M., Berlin, F., Gournay, K. & Noshirvani, H. (1980) Avoidance versus confrontation of fear. Behaviour Therapy, 11, 1–14.Google Scholar
Harrington, R. C. (1987) Occupational Cramps. MPhil dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Lang, A. E., Sheehy, M. P. & Marsden, C. D. (1983) Acute anticholinergic action in focal dystonia. Advances in Neurology, 37, 193–200.Google ScholarPubMed
Sheehy, M. P. & Marsden, C. D. (1982) Writer's cramp: a focal dystonia. Brain, 105, 461–480.Google Scholar
SPSS Inc. (1983) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences: SPSS X User's Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Sylvester, J. D. & Liversedge, L. A. (1960) Conditioning and the occupational cramps. In Behaviour Therapy and the Neuroses (ed. Eysenck, H. J.). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.