Wie wirksam ist kognitive gruppentherapie bei exekutiver dysfunktion?

The therapy of executive functions plays an essential role for the functional outcome and the social reintegration. Nevertheless there is a lack of cognitive oriented and evidence-based therapy programs. The purpose of our study is to verificate the effectiveness of a cognitive oriented program. The idea of our program is a functional analysis of the patient's impairments and its use for therapy. The material consists of three subcomponents: working memory, cognitive flexibility and fluency and cognitive planning. In order to evaluate the program we used a control group design. We included a total number of 35 patients with executive function disorders. Patients of the intervention group participated in the cognitive therapy for four weeks, 4 times a week. Patients of the control group participated in standardized neuropsychological therapies. The comparison of the patient's state before and after our therapy indicates improvement in most variables and tests. Cognitive oriented programs can be used in a meaningful and successful manner for the therapy of executive dysfunctions. But only concerning the subcomponent »cognitive flexibility and fluency« they are superior to standard therapy in a control group.