Long-term effectiveness of basic body awareness therapy in psychiatric outpatient care. A randomized controlled study

Abstract

The long-term effects of Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) were studied in a randomized, controlled design in psychiatric outpatient care. Seventy-seven patients with mood, stress-related somatoform, behavioural or personality disorders were studied at baseline, after a 3-month treatment period and at a 6-month follow-up. The use of psychiatric healthcare and social services were studied during 12 months, starting with baseline. The study comprised a control group (n=39) that received TAU and a treatment group (n=38) that in addition to TAU also received 12 sessions of BBAT. The aim was to study the effects of BBAT in addition to TAU compared with TAU only, regarding: body awareness, health-related factors and coping strategies as well as the use of the social services and psychiatric healthcare. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) repeated-measures analysis of the intention-to-treat population (n=77) revealed that the BBAT group had a significantly improved body awareness (p<0.001), attitude to the body fewer symptoms (p<0.001) and improved self-efficacy (p<0.05), from baseline to 6 months after the termination of treatment, compared with the control group. The treatment group also had a significantly less use of psychiatric treatment from healthcare professionals other than the psychiatrist (p<0.05) during 1 year after baseline and a significantly less total use of social services (p<0.05). The evidence of the positive effects as well as the lower costs for psychiatric healthcare and social services for the group that had received BBAT in addition to TAU is discussed, and it is concluded that BBAT seem an effective intervention in psychiatric outpatient care also in the long term for patients who in addition to psychiatric disorders also present somatic symptoms.