Neuropsychological Rehabilitation of Spontaneous Confabulation

Monica Triviño Mosquera

Status: Completed

Conditions: Memory Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: Neuropsychological treatment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02540772

Conf-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

Confabulators consistently generate false memories without intention to deceive and with great feeling of rightness. However, there is currently no known effective treatment for them. In order to fill this gap, the aim of this trial was to design a neuropsychological treatment based on the current theoretical models and test it experimentally in two groups of confabulators: experimental vs. control. The treatment consisted of some brief material that patients had to learn and recall at both immediate and delayed moments. After both recollections, patients were given feedback about their performance (errors and correct responses). Pre-treatment and post-treatment baselines were administered. Confabulators in the control group performed the baselines without treatment, and were then offered the treatment after the second baseline.

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 35 to 86 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• The presence of spontaneous confabulations after acute brain injury, for at least three months and without clinical improvement (interfering with the patient's daily life with frequent arguments and exhaustive supervision).
• The presence of momentary confabulations in the Spanish adaptation of Dalla Barba provoked confabulation interview.
• Prior to injury, all patients should be completely independent for daily living.

Exclusion criteria

• The presence of impairment in alertness.
• Dementia.
• Acute confusional state.
• A history of alcohol or drug abuse.
• Psychiatric antecedents.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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20 participants in 2 patient groups

Neuropsychological treatment

Experimental group

Description:

The tested treatment is a combination of neuropsychological rehabilitation procedures: learning, episodic memory recall after a delay, selective attention, inhibition of predominant responses and awareness of deficits.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Neuropsychological treatment

No treatment

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients in the control group only performed the baselines.