We are excited to share news of a new paper co-authored by OCTC staff Olivia Plant and Helen Kennerley: A Cognitive-Behavioral Model of Apathy in Parkinson’s Disease.
Olivia is a senior cognitive behavioural psychotherapist, chartered psychologist and academic clinical tutor on the Postgraduate Diploma for CBT. As part of her work as a former member of the Cognitive Neurology Group at the University of Oxford, Olivia contributed to the development of a cognitive and systemic framework for the treatment of pathological apathy.
Olivia said: “While the paper focuses on people with Parkinson’s disease, the model is transdiagnostic and can inform clinicians’ assessment, conceptualisation and treatment of apathy in other neurological and psychiatric conditions in which apathy occurs and can inform approaches to low motivation more generally.
“Apathy is a common and debilitating syndrome that occurs across a range of neurological and psychiatric presentations, such as depression, and is common in neurodiverse populations. Apathy can have a significant impact on the quality of life of the individual affected, but also those around them: it is often cited as the aspect of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that family members find most difficult to cope with.”
At present, there are no established, evidence-based treatments for pathological apathy. The cognitive behavioural framework presented in this paper points to theoretically driven ideas for intervention.
It considers individual therapeutic targets, as well as maintenance and intervention at a systemic level for problem apathy.
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Helen Kennerley is a co-author of this paper with OCTC alumni Annika Kienast, Daniel Drew, Elitsa Slavkova and neurologists Kinan Muhammed, and Masud Husain.
Helen commented: “Low motivation is also a common stumbling block in therapy. How often is CBT held back because our patients just can’t get going, can’t take that first step. And if they do, how often does therapy slow or halt because they struggle to keep going?
“We see this across disorders. Once we start to consider the impact of apathy, and poor motivation it becomes evident that it is a very real transdiagnostic phenomenon and one that can blight a patient’s best attempts to make use of CBT.”
Additionally, the model considers comorbidities that can occur alongside apathy such as depression and anxiety and how a clinician can understand the interplay of these symptoms at an individual and systemic level.
Olivia added: “We hope it will help guide the assessment and treatment of apathy in other neurological and psychiatric conditions.”
Read the full paper A Cognitive-Behavioral Modal of Apathy in Parkinson’s Disease.