InMotion – Mixed physical exercise with creative movement as an intervention for people with schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia (SCZ) is among the world’s top ten causes of long-term disability (World Health Organization, 2004). The major symptoms of SCZ include hallucinations, delusions, affective flattening, and cognitive impairment, and their treatment with antipsychotic medications is far from optimal.Creative and body awareness training (dance/movement therapy, body psychotherapy) and physical training (aerobic and strength training) improve SCZ symptoms (e.g Martin et al., 2016, 2017; Girdler et al., 2019; Millman et a., 2021). In our novel intervention, we bring together creativity and self-awareness with physical training. The 12-week 24-session intervention with 30 participants (Figure 1) includes components like visualization, cardio and strength training, and social interaction. We will measure the impact with standardized clinical questionnaires, EEG-fNIRS, motion capture, and cognitive, affective, and physical tests. We expect our intervention to improve the quality of life and negative symptoms of SCZ by balancing the brain functions and bodily state related to self-awareness, social interaction, and physical fitness. In my talk, I will cover brain dysfunctions related to self-awareness in SCZ (Ferri et al., 2012; Ebisch et al., 2013) and describe the scientific rationale for each component included in our novel intervention (e.g. Lee et al., 2015; Firth et al., 2017).

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Annan hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Other Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Schizophrenia

body awareness

creative movement

physical activity

brain imaging

motion capture

rehabilitation medicine

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)