Single-blind clinical trial of psychotherapy for treatment of psychogenic movement disorders

Abstract

Background PMD are disabling, but lack any generally accepted treatment strategies. Design/methods Ten patients with PMD received treatment with Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Patients were assessed with psychiatric rating scales and the movement disorder was rated by a blinded rater with the Psychogenic Movement Disorder Rating Scale (PMDRS). Results Total mean PMDRS ( p=0.0195), total PMDRS function scores ( p=0.0142), Hamilton depression scores ( p=0.009), Beck anxiety scores ( p=0.002), and GAF ( p=0.0083) all improved with psychotherapeutic intervention. Conclusions Psychotherapy and appropriate use of adjunct psychiatric medication can be a successful intervention for PMD.