PSYCHOMOTOR THERAPY COMBINED WITH COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TECHNIQUES FOR NEUROTIC SYMPTOMS IN VASCULAR DEMENTIA: A PROSPECTIVE COMPARATIVE PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common in vascular cognitive impairment and can complicate rehabilitation and long-term care. This 30-day prospective comparative pilot study evaluated two multimodal regimens for neurotic symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate vascular dementia. Forty-six patients were enrolled, and 42 had complete baseline and end-of-treatment records for comparative analysis: 20 received basic neuroprotective therapy, rational psychotherapy, and temgicoluril (Adaptol), whereas 22 received basic neuroprotective therapy, structured psychomotor therapy combined with cognitive-behavioral techniques, and the same temgicoluril regimen. The source manuscript contained internally inconsistent percentages and mislabeled figure rows; therefore, percentages were recalculated from stated denominators and post-treatment severity counts were provisionally reconstructed by matching group sample sizes and exact baseline distributions. Baseline distributions of the study-defined Heck-Hess symptom categories did not differ between groups, χ²(2, N = 42) = 0.43, p = .806, Cramér's V = .10. Reconstructed day-30 distributions also did not significantly differ, χ²(2, N = 42) = 1.03, p = .597, Cramér's V = .16; the proportion classified as normal was 70.0% in the rational-psychotherapy group and 77.3% in the psychomotor/cognitive-behavioral group (Fisher's exact p = .730). Both groups showed favorable descriptive shifts, but superiority of the psychomotor regimen was not established. These findings support further study of integrated motor-cognitive approaches using a preregistered, adequately powered randomized design with validated outcomes, standardized therapy exposure, blinded assessment, and longer follow-up.