The effectiveness of the Attention Training Technique in reducing intrusive thoughts in schizophrenia: A case study

Attention Training; Intrusive thoughts; Schizophrenia; Cognitive rehabilitation; Daily-life functioning; Remédiation cognitive; Vie quotidienne; Entraînement attentionnel; Pensées intrusives; Schizophrénie

Abstract :

[en] The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the attention training technique (ATT) on the frequency of intrusive thoughts experienced by a person with schizophrenia in her daily life. The attentional procedure was designed to attenuate self-focused attention and to reinforce attentional control and consisted of auditory external exercises. Homework practice was included to promote transfer to everyday life. The efficacy and specificity of the ATT were assessed with cognitive, functional, and control measures. The impact of ATT on symptomatology, work functioning, and self-esteem was also measured. Postrehabilitation results showed that, after nine training sessions, there was a reduction in intrusive thoughts for the cognitive and ecological outcome measures. Selective attention, attention switching, and resistance to distractive interference specifically improved. The person reported a reduction in intrusive thoughts in her daily life. In addition, positive symptoms decreased. Finally, a 6-month follow-up assessment revealed the maintenance of most of the beneficial effects in daily life.

Disciplines :

Theoretical & cognitive psychology

Author, co-author :

Levaux, Marie-Noëlle ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie : cognition et comportement > Psychopathologie cognitive

Laroi, Frank ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie : cognition et comportement > Psychologie clinique cognitive et comportementale

Offerlin-Meyer, Isabelle

Danion, Jean-Marie

Van der Linden, Martial ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie : cognition et comportement > Psychopathologie cognitive

Language :

English

Title :

The effectiveness of the Attention Training Technique in reducing intrusive thoughts in schizophrenia: A case study

Publication date :

2011

Journal title :

Clinical Case Studies

ISSN :

1534-6501

Publisher :

SAGE Publications

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

466-484

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Commentary :

attention training, intrusive thoughts, schizophrenia, cognitive rehabilitation, daily-life functioning

Available on ORBi :

since 03 November 2012

Statistics

Number of views

256 (4 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

1893 (4 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 1994 ). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Washington, DC: Author ; 1994 :
Belleville S., Rouleau N., Caza N.. Effect of normal aging on the manipulation of information in working memory. Memory & Cognition. 1998 ; 26: 572-583 (Pubitemid 28226260)
Brewin C. R., Smart L.. Working memory capacity and suppression of intrusive thoughts. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 2005 ; 36: 61-68 (Pubitemid 40431328)
Brickenkamp R. Paris: Les Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée ; 1998 :
Brunsdon R., Coltheart M., Nickels L.. Treatment of irregular words spelling in developmental surface dysgraphia. Cognitive Neuropsychology. 2005 ; 22: 213-251 (Pubitemid 40403146)
Bryson G., Bell M. D., Lysaker P., Zito W.. The Work Behavior Inventory: A scale for the assessment of work behavior for clients with severe mental illness. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 1997 ; 20: 47-56
Burgess P. W., Shallice T.. Response suppression, initiation, and strategy use following frontal lobe lesions. Neuropsychologia. 1996 ; 34: 263-276
Clark D. A., Rhyno S. Intrusive thoughts in clinical disorders: Theory, research, and treatment. Clark D. A., ed. New York, NY: Guilford ; 2005: 1-29.
Cornblatt B. A., Risch N., Faris J., Friedman G., Erlenmeyer-Kimling D.. The continuous performance test, identical pairs version (CPT-IP): I. New findings about sustained attention in normal families. Psychiatry Research. 1988 ; 26: 223-238
Craik F. I. M. The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder. Roediguer H. L., ed. New York, NY: American Psychological Association ; 2001: 55-68.
Engle R. W.. Working memory capacity as executive function. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2002 ; 11: 19-23
Ensum I., Morrison A. P.. The effects of focus of attention on attributional bias in patients experiencing auditory hallucinations. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2003 ; 41: 895-907 (Pubitemid 36918178)
Friedman N. P., Miyake A.. The relations among inhibition and interference control functions: A latent-variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2004 ; 133: 101-135 (Pubitemid 38260136)
Gay P., D'Acremont M., Schmidt R. E., Van der Linden M.. Validation of a French adaptation of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire. European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 2007 ; 24: 101-107
Giambra L. M., Grodsky A.. The influence of age on the frequency of spontaneous task-unrelated thought intrusions during reading. Imagination, Cognition and Personality. 1992 ; 11: 367-379
Grodsky A., Giambra L. M.. The consistency across vigilance and reading tasks of individual differences in the occurrence of task-unrelated and task-related images and thoughts. Imagination, Cognition and Personality. 1990 ; 10: 39-52
Ingram R. E.. Self-focused attention in clinical disorders: Review and a conceptual model. Psychological Bulletin. 1990 ; 107: 156-176
Jones S. R., Fernyhough C.. Rumination, reflection, intrusive thoughts, and hallucination-proneness: Towards a new model. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2009 ; 47: 54-59
Kane M. J., Brown L. H., McVay J. C., Silvia P. J., Myin-Germeys I., Kwapil T. R.. For whom the mind wanders, and when: An experience-sampling study of working memory and executive control in daily life. Psychological Science. 2007 ; 18: 614-621
Klein K., Boals A.. The relationship of life event stress and working memory capacity. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 2001 ; 15: 565-579 (Pubitemid 33673436)
Klinger E. At play in the fields of consciousness: Essays in the honor of Jerome L Singer. Singer J. A. Salovey P., ed. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum ; 1999: 29-50.
Lecardeur L., Stip E., Giguere M., Blouin G., Rodriguez J.-P., Champagne-Lavau M.. Effects of cognitive remediation therapies on psychotic symptoms and cognitive complaints in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders: A randomized study. Schizophrenia Research. 2009 ; 111: 153-158
Lépine J. P., Piron J. J., Chapatot E. Psychiatry today: Accomplishments and promises. Stefanis C. N. Soltados C. R. Rabavilas A. D., ed. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Experta Medica ; 1989 :
LevauxM. N.LarøiF.Offerlin-MeyerI.DanionJ. M.Van der LindenM.BonnefondC. (2007). Adaptation française du Work Behavior Inventory [French adaptation of the Work Behavior Inventory]. Unpublished manuscript, University of Liège, Inserm Unit 666, Strasbourg.
Levaux M. N., Vezzaro J., Larøi F., Offerlin-Meyer I., Danion J. M., Van der Linden M.. Cognitive rehabilitation of the updating sub-component of working memory in schizophrenia: A case study. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 2008 ; 19: 244-273
López-Luengo B., Vásquez C.. Effects of attention process training on cognitive functioning of schizophrenic patients. Psychiatry Research. 2003 ; 119: 41-53
Luciano J., Algarabel S., Tomás J., Martínez J.. Development and validation of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Difference. 2005 ; 38: 997-1008 (Pubitemid 40205207)
Lyubomirsky S., Kasri F., Zehm K.. Dysphoric rumination impairs concentration on academic tasks. Cognitive Therapy and Research. 2003 ; 27: 309-330 (Pubitemid 38979740)
Martin R. Le test des commissions. Epreuve d'adaptation méthodique. Belgium: Bruxelles ; 1972 :
Matthews G., Wells A.. Attention, automaticity, and affective disorder. Behavior Modification. 2000 ; 24: 69-93 (Pubitemid 30198228)
MeulemansT.CoyetteF.Van der LindenM. (2007). Adaptation et validation du test informatisé de Brown-Peterson [Adaptation and validation of computerized Brown-Peterson test]. Unpublished manuscript, University of Liège, Belgium.
Moritz S., Larøi F.. Differences and similarities in the sensory and cognitive signatures of voice-hearing, intrusions and thoughts. Schizophrenia Research. 2008 ; 102: 96-107
Morrison A. P.. The interpretation of intrusions in psychosis: An integrative cognitive approach to hallucinations and delusions. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 2001 ; 29: 257-276 (Pubitemid 32666758)
Morrison A. P. Intrusive thoughts in clinical disorders: Theory, research, and treatment. Clark D. A., ed. New York, NY: Guilford ; 2005: 175-198.
Morrison A. P., Wells A.. Relationships between worry, psychotic experiences and emotional distress in patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and comparisons with anxious and non-patients groups. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2007 ; 45: 1593-1600 (Pubitemid 46669442)
Myin-Germeys I., van Os J.. Stress-reactivity in psychosis: Evidence for an affective pathway to psychosis. Clinical Psychology Review. 2007 ; 27: 409-424 (Pubitemid 46420798)
Papageorgiou C., Wells A.. Effects of training on hypochondrias: A brief case series. Psychological Medicine. 1998 ; 28: 193-200 (Pubitemid 28043581)
Papageorgiou C., Wells A.. Treatment of recurrent major depression with attention training. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 2000 ; 7: 407-413 (Pubitemid 32115189)
Perona-Garcelán S., Cuevas-Yust C., García-Montes J., Pérez-Alvarez M., Ductor-Recuerda M. J., Salas-Azcona R.,... Rodriguez-Martin B.. Relationship between self-focused attention and dissociation in patients with and without auditory hallucinations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 2008 ; 196: 190-197 (Pubitemid 351417102)
Peterson R. D., Klein J., Donnelly R., Renk K.. Predicting psychological symptoms: The role of perceived thought control ability. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. 2009 ; 38: 16-28
Ranganath C., Cohen M. X., Brozinsky C. J.. Working memory maintenance contributes to long-term memory formation: Neutral and behavioral evidence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2005 ; 17: 994-1010 (Pubitemid 41045573)
Rey A., Marchand F., Rappaz R., Richelle M., Schaechtlin M.. Centration soutenue sur une tĝche intellectuelle simple: Ordination continue de chiffres. Archives de Psychologie. 1957 ; 36: 29-61
Sarason I. G., Pierce G. R., Sarason B. R. Cognitive interference: Theories, methods, and findings. Sarason I. G. Pierce G. R. Sarason B. P., ed. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum ; 1996: 139-152.
Schooler J. W., Reichle E. D., Halpern D. V. Thinking and seeing: Visual metacognition in adults and children. Levin D. T., ed. London, England: MIT Press ; 2004: 203-226.
SchoolerJ. W.SmallwoodJ.McSpaddenM.ReichleE. D. (2005). Reading nonsense. Unpublished manuscript.
Silverstein S. M., Spaulding W. D., Menditto A. A., Savitz A., Liberman R. P., Berten S., Starobin H.. Attention shaping: A reward-based learning method to enhance skills training outcomes in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 2009 ; 35: 222-232
Smallwood J., Schooler J. W.. The restless mind. Psychological Bulletin. 2006 ; 132: 946-958 (Pubitemid 44665373)
Valmaggia L. R., Bouman T. K., Schuurman L.. Attention training with auditory hallucinations: A case study. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 2007 ; 14: 127-133 (Pubitemid 46617976)
Van der Linden M., Adam S., Agniel A., Baisset-Mouly C., Bardet F., Coyette F.,... Thomas-Antérion C. L'évaluation des troubles de la mémoire: Présentation de quatre tests de mémoire épisodique (avec leur étalonnage). Marseille, France: Solal ; 2004 :
Wechsler D. WAIS-III: Echelle d'intelligence de Wechsler pour adultes. 2000 ). WAIS-III: Echelle d'intelligence de Wechsler pour adultes [Adult Intelligence Scale] (3rd ed.). Paris, France: Les éditions du Centre de Psychologie. Paris, France: Les éditions du Centre de Psychologie ; 2000 :
Wechsler D. MEM-III: Manuel de l'échelle clinique de mémoire. 2001 ). MEM-III: Manuel de l'échelle clinique de mémoire [MEM-III: Wechsler Memory Scale] (3rd ed.). Paris, France: Les éditions du Centre de Psychologie. Paris, France: Les éditions du Centre de Psychologie ; 2001 :
Wegner D. M., Zanakos S.. Chronic thought suppression. Journal of Personality. 1994 ; 62: 615-640
Wells A. Emotional disorders and metacognition: Innovative cognitive therapy. Chichester, UK: Wiley ; 2000 :
Wells A.. Detached mindfulness in cognitive therapy: A metacognitive analysis and ten techniques. Journal of Rational-Emotive Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. 2005 ; 23: 337-355 (Pubitemid 43992667)
Wells A.. The attention training technique: Theory, effects and a metacognitive hypothesis on auditory hallucinations. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 2007 ; 14: 138
Wells A., Matthews G. Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Erlbaum ; 1994 :
Wells A., White J., Carter K.. Attention training: Effects on anxiety and beliefs in panic and social phobia. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 1997 ; 4: 226-232 (Pubitemid 127493999)
Wykes T., Reeder C., Williams C., Corner J., Rice C., Everitt B.. Are the effects of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) durable? Results from an exploratory trial in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research. 2003 ; 61: 163-174 (Pubitemid 36513931)
Zimmerman P., Fimm B. Test for Attentional Performance (TAP). Herzogenrath, Germany: PsyTest ; 1994 :