[Rehabilitation success after psychosomatic rehabilitation as a function of psychotherapy dose]. / Rehaerfolg nach psychosomatischer Rehabilitation in Abhängigkeit von der Psychotherapiedosis.

BACKGROUND: Increasing the effectiveness of psychosomatic rehabilitation by prolonging the treatment is a subject of controversial debate. The number of sessions over time defines the dosage in psychotherapy. While the dose-response model assumes an optimal therapy dose, the good-enough level model assumes a correlation of the rate of change with the total sessions. A randomized control group study was conducted to investigate the extent to which an adaptive therapy concept with a two-week intensive phase and early intervention could increase rehabilitation success. METHOD: A total of 494 rehabilitants between the ages of 21 and 64 (47% women) who completed a classical or an integrative psychosomatic rehabilitation at the Rehazentrum Oberharz between 2020 and 2022 were analysed. Rehabilitation success was mapped by the Reliable Change Index of individual symptom reduction (depression severity or psychological and somatoform disorders) and as a socio-medical parameter (physician's assessment of potential work ability (WA) after two weeks). Two-factorial ANOVAs and hierarchical binary logistic regressions were calculated, and sick leave before rehabilitation was statistically controlled. RESULTS: Dosage showed no effect on symptom reduction (p = 0.29) and potential WA after two weeks (p = 0.90). However, when stratified by disease severity, there was a mean effect of dosage (p = 0.05) and twice the probability of WA after two weeks (odds 2.13; p = 0.01) for those with mild disease at the start of measure (p = 0.05). DISCUSSION: In the early stages of an affective disorder, early and intensified intervention can counteract the chronification of mental disorders.

EMG measured reaction time as a predictor of invalid symptom report in psychosomatic patients.

Background: Symptom validity tests (SVTs) and performance validity tests (PVTs) are important tools in sociomedical assessments, especially in the psychosomatic context where diagnoses mainly depend on clinical observation and self-report measures. This study examined the relationship between reaction times (RTs) and scores on the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS). It was proposed that slower RTs and larger standard deviations of reaction times (RTSDs) would be observed in participants who scored above the SIMS cut-off (>16). Methods: Direct surface electromyography (EMG) was used to capture RTs during a computer-based RT test in 152 inpatients from a psychosomatic rehabilitation clinic in Germany. Correlation analyses and Mann-Whitney U were used to examine the relationship between RTs and SIMS scores and to assess the potential impact of covariates such as demographics, medical history, and vocational challenges on RTs. Therefore, dichotomized groups based on each potential covariate were compared. Results: Significantly longer RTs and larger RTSDs were found in participants who scored above the SIMS cut-off. Current treatment with psychopharmacological medication, diagnosis of depression, and age had no significant influence on the RT measures. However, work-related problems had a significant impact on RTSDs. Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between longer and more inconsistent RTs and indicators of exaggerated or feigned symptom report on the SIMS in psychosomatic rehabilitation inpatients. Findings from this study provide a basis for future research developing a new RT-based PVT.

[Rehabilitation Success After Psychosomatic Rehabilitation as a Function of Symptomatic Load and Duration of Incapacity to Work]. / Reha-Erfolg nach psychosomatischer Rehabilitation in Abhängigkeit von Symptombelastung und Arbeitsunfähigkeitsdauer.

PURPOSE: Rehabilitation success is directly reflected in individual symptom reduction and indirectly in sociomedical benefits. The findings on the extension of measures to increase rehabilitation success are controversial. Treatment duration does not seem to be a sufficient predictor of rehabilitation success. Long periods of sick leave may contribute to chronification of mental illness. The study examined the relationship between the duration of sick leave before psychosomatic rehabilitation (less vs. more than 3 months) with different depression severity at the start of rehabilitation (below vs. above clinical relevance) and (un)indirect rehabilitation success. For this purpose, 1612 rehabilitants aged 18-64 years, 49% women, who completed psychosomatic rehabilitation at the Oberharz Rehabilitation Centre in 2016 were examined. METHODS: Individual symptom reduction was mapped by the Reliable Change Index (consid-ered as a good estimator of true change) from pre/post test scores of the BDI-II. Periods of sick leave before rehabilitation and insurance/contribution periods one to four years after rehabilitation were taken from the accounts of Deutsche Rentenversicherung Braunschweig-Hannover. Multiple hierarchical regression, repeated measures 2-factorial ANCOVAs, planned contrasts, were calculated. Age, gender and rehabilitation duration were statistically controlled. RESULTS: A multiple hierarchical regression showed incremental variance clarification in symptom reduction for patients who were on sick leave for less than three months before rehabilitation (4%) and for those who started rehabilitation with clinically relevant depression (9%) with medium and large effect sizes, (respectively f2=0,22 and 0,73). Repeated-messures 2-factorial ANCOVAs showed, more contributions/contribution periods for patients with a short period of sick leave before rehabilitation in each year after rehabilitation, with small effect size (ηp 2=0,03 and 0,02). Patients starting rehabilitation with low depression severity showed more insurance but not more contribution periods in the same period (ηp 2=0,01). CONCLUSION: Duration of incapacity for work before rehabilitation appears to be an important pa-rameter for (un)direct rehabilitation success. Future studies should further differentiate and evaluate the effect of early admission within the first months of sick leave in psychosomatic rehabilitation measures.