An interventional study of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Radically Open dialectical behavior therapy in Acquired Brain Injury, Stroke/ Cerebrovascular Accident (Ischemic or Hemorrhagic) and Brain Tumor (After Recovery), sponsored by University Hospital, Strasbourg, France. Recruiting at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-09.
Sponsored by University Hospital, Strasbourg, France · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
After acquired brain injury (ABI), persons can experience emotional and behavioral difficulties, that can be painful both for the person and his/her family. This clinical study aims at measuring the effectiveness of a third wave cognitive behavioral therapy called "dialectical behavior therapy" (DBT). DBT aims at teaching persons emotion regulation skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills, mindfulness and distress tolerance skills through group and individual sessions.
The study's hypothesis is that DBT, in an adapted format for persons with ABI can lead to
experiencing more emotions and more free will
45 persons with an ABI sustained more than 18 month back, will follow a 3 phases, follow-up with care as usual for 5 months, followed by 5 months of DBT, followed by 5 months of care as usual + DBT monthly sessions.
Self- and family-questionnaire will explore quality of life, emotional regulation, self-esteem, stress, anxiety, cognitive difficulties, family functioning and coping, post traumatic growth and spirituality and will be compared across the 3 phases. Results will be analyzed at a group level but also at an individual level (each patient separately) to test for decrease in unwanted behaviors and at a dyadic level (the person and his/her spouse) to test for the mutual effect of regulating emotions. Persons' memories will by analyzed at 3 time points by a linguistic analysis, and experience of free will after ABI will be analyzed by transcribed narratives of participants.
The study will explore the impact of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training on patients with ABI, their families and on for their family system interactions.
->Triple methodology :
Prospective (at the individual level) and correlational (at the dyad level: client - family member) single-case experimental study exploring emotional-behavioral interactions as a function of the use of DBT skills by the client, over time.
Further, it will explore the experience of free will (the property of the human will to determine itself freely), in relation to emotions and meaning of life/spirituality after ABI and the modifications of this experience after DBT.
The objectives of this research are to show that a group training of DBT skills allows persons with ABI, (1) to improve quality of life - main objective; (2) to improve self-esteem and emotional regulation (3) to decrease depressive symptoms and problematic behaviors, (4) to self-determine and achieve one's goals (Goal Attainment Scaling) for a life worth living; (5) to improve coping and family functioning; (7) to decrease caregiver burden; (8) to interpret one's life, with more expression of emotions, non-judgment, acceptance of the difficulty of life and motivation to change (measured by linguistic analysis of emotionally charged memories)
946 studies on the registry are indexed under Brain Injuries; 235 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 77 is above the median of 41 across 612 interventional studies indexed under Brain Injuries.
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Eligibility Criteria: * (Limit: 15,000 characters)
Summary criteria for participant selection.
Main eligibility criteria
GREMO patients :
Inclusion criteria:
Exclusion criteria:
Controls without brain injury
Inclusion criteria :
Exclusion criteria :
GREMO patients' family members
Inclusion criteria :
Exclusion criteria :
Qualitative research ABI patients and families
Inclusion criteria :
Exclusion criteria :
1. 5 months of baseline : usual care of in a medico-social service (medical, social, neuropsychological and psychological), 2. 5 months of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) -DBT skills training group : during 19 weeks 3. 5 months of follow-up : usual care of + monthly reminders of DBT intervention skills
Behavioral: Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Radically Open dialectical behavior therapy
People without brain injury used as controls for linguistic markers of emotional expression regulation and free will.
GREMO patients' relatives, without brain injury, living with the GREMO patient and ready to complete every day and adapted self-observational diary card similar to the one of the GREMO patient
Patients and relatives followed by the same medico-social service but not meeting GREMO patients eligibility criteria, participating only in the qualitative research on free will and spirituality
Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a third wave cognitive-behavioral therapy. It focuses on emotional dysregulation and interactions between the patient and his family in genesis and maintenance of challenging behaviors. It is used here in an adapted form for cognitive problems. Delivered in a group format of 19 weeks + individual sessions.
Quality Of Life after Brain Injury
Evaluation of quality of life after brain injury with QOLIBRI (Quality Of Life after Brain Injury)on 37 items belonging to 6 factors: cognition, self, daily life and autonomy, social relationships, emotions and physical problems. The Qolibri scores are reported a 0-100. 0 is the worst and 100 is the best. Self-rated by GREMO patients.
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of the difficulties in emotions regulation
Evaluation of emotional regulation difficulties with DERS ( Difficuties en Emotion Regulation Scale)-16 on 16 items filed in 5 factors : lack of emotional clarity, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies, nonacceptance of emotional responses. Self-rated by GREMO patients and self-rated by family member about themselves. DERS-16 can range from 16 to 80, higher scores suggest greater problems with emotion regulation
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of self-esteem
Evaluation of self-esteem on 10 items with EES-10 (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) . You then get a score between 10 and 40.If you score below 25, your self-esteem is very low. Work in this area seems desirable. If you get a score above 39, your self-esteem is very high and you tend to be strongly assertive. Self-rated by GREMO patients
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of executive functioning
Evaluation of executive functioning with BRIEF-A (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version) on 75 items filed in inhibit, self-monitor, plan/organize, shift, initiate, task monitor, emotional control, working memory and organization of materials. Self-rated by GREMO patients and proxi-rated by a family member.high scores obtained on the BRIEF do not indicate a "disorder of executive function" but rather suggest a higher level of dysfunction in a specific domain of executive functions
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of reflective functioning
Evaluation of reflective functioning with RFQ (Reflective Function Questionnaire) on 8 items. 7 if you strongly agree, and the 1 if you arestrongly disagree. Use the middle point (the 4) if you are neutral or indecisive requirements of the RFQ
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of psychological distress
Evaluation of psychological distress with DASS-21 (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) on 21 items about depression, anxiety and stress. Each of the 21 questions is scored on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 ("Did not apply to me at all") to 3 ("Applied to me very much, or most of the time"). Scores for Depression, Anxiety and Stress are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items: Depression: 3, 5, 10, 13, 16, 17, 21 Anxiety: 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, 19, 20 Stress: 1, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 1
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of positive outcomes reported by persons who have experienced traumatic event
Evaluation of positive outcomes reported by persons who have experienced traumatic events, such as brain injury, which evaluates new possibilities, relating to others, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life with Post-traumatic Growth Inventory. Self-rated by GREMO patients. It consists of 21 questions to which responses are given on a scale of 0-5, with 0 representing no change and 5 showing a great degree of change.
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of the perception of the family functioning
Evaluation of the perception of the family functioning on 12 items with FAD (Family Assessment Device). Scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 reflecting healthy functioning and 4 reflecting unhealthy functioning.
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of coping cope with dysfunctions related to their relatives' pathology.
Evaluation of coping cope with dysfunctions related to their relatives' pathology. Rated by a family member with FCQ (Family Coping Questionnaire).It consists of 21 questions to which responses are given on a scale of 0-5, with 0 representing no change and 5 showing a great degree of change.
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of family burden
Evaluation of family burdenon 21 items with Zarit (Zarit Burden Interview) questionnaire Rated by a family member.The Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) The ZBI consists of 22 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale that ranges from 0 (never) to 4 (nearly always) with the sum of scores ranging between 0-88. Higher scores indicate greater burden. A score of 17 or more was considered high burden
Time frame: 15 months
Evaluation of the goal attainment related to better emotional regulation
3 milestone, 5-level GAS, evaluating goal attainment related to better emotional regulation. Each GREMO patient will have at least on personalized GAS according to his/her goals with Goal Attainment Scaling. 0 means not important, 1 means important, 2 means very important and 3 means extremely important
Time frame: 15 months
Plan to share: Undecided
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