Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Improve Outcomes in Functional Movement Disorders: A Case Study

Although there are many theories of functional movement disorders (FMD), the causes and prognosis remain unclear, and there are no treatments with high-quality empirical support. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an acceptance-based behavior therapy which, via altering a process called psychological flexibility, aims to support behaviors that are consistent with a person’s overarching values—even in difficult, uncertain, or immutable contexts. It may, therefore, have pragmatic benefits in the context of FMD. We outline the theoretical basis for ACT and detail a case study of a brief (six session) intervention for increasing personally meaningful activity with FMD. The participant was in her early 20s and had been diagnosed with functional propriospinal myoclonus. ACT techniques including relational framing, defusion, and mindfulness exercises were used to increase psychological flexibility, with the goal of enabling effective functioning within the difficult context created by FMD. Following treatment, the participant showed a reliable change/clinical recovery in psychological flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II [AAQ-II]), FMD symptom interference (Work and Social Adjustment Scale [WSAS]; primary outcome), and mood (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation 10-item scale [CORE-10]; secondary outcome). This case study demonstrates an approach that focuses first on improving functioning with FMD, as opposed to eliminating or controlling symptoms.

The potential of psychological interventions to improve quality of life and mood in muscle disorders

Quality of life (QoL) and mood are reduced in many patients with muscle disorders. Psychological variables appear to be contributors to both QoL and mood, suggesting that psychological interventions could improve these outcomes, yet research in this area is sparse. We review the roles of psychological variables, plus context and disease severity, in explaining QoL. A cognitive-behavioral model of disease self-management, with acceptance as the central component, is discussed. This model is then used to describe how psychological interventions derived from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), in particular Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), might be applied to address the issues of distress, nonadherence to treatments, pain, and fatigue in people with muscle disorders.

Fatal fat embolism syndrome after numerous vertebral body compression fractures in a lung transplant recipient

The fat embolism syndrome is an uncommon clinical disorder that typically occurs as a complication of severe trauma. We report the case of a 60-year-old single-lung transplant recipient who died of massive fat emboli. Before lung transplantation, the patient had been treated with corticosteroids for at least 1 year because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by centrilobular emphysema and asthmatic bronchitis. After receiving his lung transplant, he was treated with triple-drug immunosuppression, which included 25 mg of prednisone per day. He was discharged from the hospital 2 months after transplantation only to be readmitted 2 weeks later with cytomegalovirus pneumonia, from which he recovered. Concomitantly, he had new lumbar compression fractures with severe back pain and lost approximately 3 cm in height during a 3-week period. On the eleventh day after hospital readmission, he suddenly had a "sepsis-like" illness without a known infectious cause, numerous petechiae and ecchymoses, marked pulmonary edema with worsening diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, profound hypoxemia, decreased mentation, and mild thrombocytopenia. He died 3 days later. With the exception of a positive sputum culture for cytomegalovirus, all cultures were negative. The postmortem examination showed severe osteoporosis, multiple vertebral compression fractures, and widespread massive fat emboli. This is the first reported case of fat emboli as the cause of death in a lung transplant recipient, and the case suggests that the fat embolism syndrome should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a sepsis-like illness in patients who have received steroids during a long period, particularly in the setting of vertebral compression fractures.