| Popis: |
It is widely accepted that stress and other environmental factors often trigger seizures in people with epilepsy. It is thus reasonable to hypothesize that behavioral approaches could minimize stress and improve seizure control, yet there have been very few controlled studies of this hypothesis and none that has involved long-term follow-up. To implement such a study, we involved 12 people with epilepsy in a training program for progressive relaxation therapy (PRT). Baseline seizure frequency of 8 weeks was compared to three 8-week follow-up periods. Median seizure frequency for the group decreased 21% after the first follow-up interval, from 19.5 to 15.5 (p = 0.07) and 54% after the third and final follow-up interval, from 19.5 to 9.0 (p = 0.02). This study also tried to answer two methodological questions. First, is it possible to abbreviate the most common protocol for PRT so that only three training sessions are required instead of 107 Second, is it possible that comparative newcomers to this field can become effective trainers? Both of these questions were answered in the affirmative by this study, although it is acknowledged that much more work needs to be done in these areas. |
