Bylemans Tom, Heleven Elien, Baetens Kris, Deroost Natacha, Baeken Chris, Van Overwalle Frank
Brain Body and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Department of Head and Skin (UZGent), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2022 Aug 18;16:941272. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.941272. eCollection 2022.
Adults diagnosed with autism experience difficulties with understanding the mental states of others, or themselves (mentalizing) and with adequately sequencing personal stories (narrative coherence). Given that the posterior cerebellum is implicated in both skills, as well as in the etiology of autism, we developed a narrative sequencing and mentalizing training for autistic adults. Participants with an official autism diagnosis were randomly assigned to a Training group ( = 17) or a waiting-list Control group ( = 15). The Training group took part in six weekly sessions in groups of three participants lasting each about 60 min. During training, participants had to (re)tell stories from the perspective of the original storyteller and answer questions that required mentalizing. We found significant improvements in mentalizing about others' beliefs and in narrative coherence for the Training group compared to the Control group immediately after the training compared to before the training. Almost all participants from the Training group expressed beneficial effects of the training on their mood and half of the participants reported positive effects on their self-confidence in social situations. All participants recommended the current training to others. Results are discussed in light of cerebellar theories on sequencing of social actions during mentalizing. Further improvements to the program are suggested. Our results highlight the potential clinical utility of adopting a neuroscience-informed approach to developing novel therapeutic interventions for autistic populations.
被诊断患有自闭症的成年人在理解他人或自己的心理状态（心理化）以及对个人故事进行适当排序（叙事连贯性）方面存在困难。鉴于小脑后部与这两种技能以及自闭症的病因都有关联，我们为成年自闭症患者开发了一种叙事排序和心理化训练。被正式诊断为自闭症的参与者被随机分配到训练组（n = 17）或等待名单对照组（n = 15）。训练组以三人一组的形式参加为期六周的课程，每次课程约60分钟。在训练过程中，参与者必须从原讲述者的角度（重新）讲述故事，并回答需要心理化的问题。与对照组相比，我们发现训练组在训练后与训练前相比，在对他人信念的心理化和叙事连贯性方面有显著改善。几乎所有训练组的参与者都表示训练对他们的情绪有有益影响，一半的参与者报告说训练对他们在社交场合的自信心有积极影响。所有参与者都向他人推荐了当前的训练。我们根据小脑关于心理化过程中社会行为排序的理论对结果进行了讨论。并提出了对该项目的进一步改进建议。我们的结果突出了采用神经科学指导方法为自闭症群体开发新型治疗干预措施的潜在临床效用。
