Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m8s7h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T07:07:00.471Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Treatment of Writer's Cramp with Multimodal Behaviour Therapy and Biofeedback: A Study of 15 Cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Jean A. Cottraux ,
Christian Juenet  and
Lionel Collet
Lionel Collet
Affiliation:
Hôpital Neurologique, 59, boulevard Pinel, 69003 Lyon, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Of 15 patients with writer's cramp (4 females, 11 males, mean age 36, range 23–50, mean duration 3.6 years), 13 entered a behavioural treatment. Nine received a multimodal treatment, and four EMG feedback alone. Four patients dropped out during the treatment phase. Nine patients were considered as improved at a follow-up between 1 and 9 months. A stress-coping model is put forward to account for the therapeutic effectiveness, and to explain the drop-outs. Writer's cramp seems to be related to stressful situations at work. The existence of personality and biological factors remains to be demonstrated.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 2 , February 1983 , pp. 180 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Ajuriaguerra, J., Garcia Badaracco, J., Trillat, E. & Soubiran, G. (1956) Traitement de la crampe des écrivains par relaxation. L'Encéphale, 45, 141–71.Google Scholar
Beech, H. R. (1960) The symptomatic treatment of writer's cramp. in Behaviour Therapy and the Neurosis. (ed. H. J. Eysenck), p. 349. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Bindman, E. & Tibbets, R. W. (1977) Writer's cramp—a rational approach to treatment? British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 143–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cottraux, J. (1981) Psychosomatique et Médecine comportementale—études de cos, p. 116. Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Crisp, A. H. & Moldofsky, H. (1965) A psychosomatic study of writer's cramp. British Journal of Psychiatry, 11, 841–58.Google Scholar
Greenberg, D. & Marks, I. (1982) Behavioural Psychotherapy of Uncommon Referrals. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 148–53.Google Scholar
Jacobson, E. (1938) Progressive Relaxation. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Janet, P. (1925) Psychological Healing, Vol. 2, p. 719, London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Manju Arora, & Srinavasa Murthy, R. (1976) Treatment of writer's cramp by progression from paint brush in supinated hand. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 7, 345–7.Google Scholar
Reavley, W. (1975) The use of biofeedback in the treatment of writer's cramp. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 6, 335–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rognant, J. & Ladouceur, R. (1977) Traitement de la crampe de l'écrivain par désensibilisation. Perspectives Psychiatriques, 5, 364–72.Google Scholar
Schultz, J. H. (1968) Le Training Autogene, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Sheehy, M. & Marsden, C. D. (1982) Writer's cramp—a focal dystonia. Brain, 105, 461–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sylvester, J. D. & Liversedge, L. A. (1960) A follow-up study of patients treated for writer's cramp by conditioning techniques in Behaviour therapy and the neuroses. (ed. H. J. Eysenck), p. 334, Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Uchiyama, K., Lutterjohann, M. & Shah, M. (1977) Biofeedback-assisted desensitization treatment of writer's cramp. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 8, 169–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.