Intensive aphasia therapy improves low mood in fluent post-stroke aphasia: Evidence from a case-controlled study.

Depressive symptoms are a major drawback of aphasia, negatively impacting on functional outcomes. In a previous study, Intensive Language-Action Therapy (ILAT) was effective in improving depression and low mood in persons with chronic non-fluent aphasia. We present a proof-of-concept case-control study that evaluates language and mood outcomes amongst persons with fluent post-stroke aphasia. Thirteen Spanish speaking persons with fluent aphasia due to chronic stroke lesions in the left hemisphere participated in the study. Five participants (intervention group) received ILAT for 3 h/day during two consecutive weeks, for an overall of 30 h, and 8 participants (control group) entered a waiting-list no-treatment arm. The main finding was that participants receiving active treatment showed significant improvements on depression and aphasia severity scores, whereas no significant changes were found in the control group. The implementation of ILAT was efficient in improving clinical language deficits in people with fluent aphasia and contributes to improvement in mood after therapy.Trial registration: EUDRACT (2008-008481-12).