Treatment
Kate provides brief, focused cognitive behavioural therapy treatment (CBT) to people with psychophysiological conditions such as persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD). This is a syndrome in which patients feel persistently unbalanced and as though they are moving, despite being stationary.
PPPD can be triggered by, or can coexist with, other causes of dizziness, such as vestibular migraine or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. PPPD is classified as a chronic functional vestibular disorder, overlapping with functional neurological disorders (FND), in which symptoms are caused by changes to the functional connectivity of the brain, rather than structural changes.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based psychological approach for treating PPPD and FND. It involves using cognitive techniques (new ways of thinking about the symptoms) and behavioural techniques (new ways of behaving in the presence of the symptoms). By responding differently to the symptoms, ie., rather than trying to stop them, experiencing them with a new understanding and behavioural approach, the connection between threat perception and physical symptoms fades, which in turn reduces the intensity of the symptoms.
Our outcome data with more than 120 people with PPPD demonstrates a significant reduction in symptoms and related disability following brief and focused CBT, and lasting or further improvements at 6 to 12 month follow-up. These results have replicated published clinical research by Sydney clinical psychologists and neurologists, Edelman et al (2012).