[EAPM 2022] Group Psychotherapy in Narcolepsy Type 1

Introduction:
Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1), a severe chronic neuropsychiatric disorder of the sleep-wake system, with excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy (loss of muscle tone, triggered by emotions) often accompanied by other psychiatric symptoms. Standard therapy focusses on pharmacotherapy, psychotherapeutic aspects as quality of life, disease acceptance and performance skills are neglegted. The aim of this pilot study was the superiority of an additional method-integrating group-psychotherapy (cognitive-behavioral and body-oriented) on emotional aspects.

Methods:
The prospective single-arm interdisciplinary study included 10 patients with NT1 (ICSD). Medication stayed unchanged during the investigation period and psychometric data was collected at T-1 (6wks waiting), T0 (pre-), T1 post-intervention, T2 follow up (16wks) including specific sleep-related symptoms (PSQI, FSS, ESS), affective symptoms (HADS), emotion regulation (FEEL-E), health-related quality of life (QoL) (SF-12), disease acceptance as well as disease processing and coping (FKV-LIS-SE)

Results:
We found an improvement (T0/T1) in 1) the psychological subscale of QoL (SF-12): 60.4/64.8. 2) depression and anxiety symptoms (HADS): anxiety:7.7/6.3; depression: 6.9/6.7. 3) emotion regulation (FEEL-E):19.8/20.8. Group mean values did not reach statistical relevance except for a subsample of 3 pts in HADS: 12/9.3 (anxiety), 9.3/8.6 (depression). No relevant changes in PSQI, FSS, ESS were found. T2 data is pending.