Additional information
by Ana-Maria Vranceanu (Author), Victoria Ann Grunberg (Author)
Having an acute neurological illness (ANI; e.g., stroke, brain injury) is often traumatic for patients and the family or friends who support them (e.g., caregivers). The sudden onset of symptoms, admission to an intensive care unit, and prognostic uncertainty contribute to emotional distress symptoms (depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress) in both patients and their informal caregivers. This early distress is interdependent between patients and caregivers, and, if untreated can become chronic and interfere with patient's recovery and caregivers' quality of life. Addressing early emotional distress with both the patient and caregiver (e.g., together called a dyad) accounts for this interdependency and can be an effective and efficient modality to prevent chronic emotional distress in both.
Recovering Together (RT) is a 6-session, modular dyadic resiliency intervention that aims to prevent chronic emotional distress following an ANI. This intervention integrates evidence-based approaches including mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy and repackages them in ways that decrease cognitive load and increase accessibility in the context of an ANI. It teaches mindfulness skills (e.g., deep breathing, present moment awareness), coping skills (e.g., dialectics, meaning-making, adaptive thinking), and interpersonal skills (e.g., communication, coping with role changes). RT can be delivered within a hospital as well as over live video. This clinician guide provides session-by-session instructions, scripts, in-session activities, and home practice assignments, which can be used in conjunction with the accompanying patient and caregiver workbook. Corresponding materials available online provide additional opportunity for practice.Author Biography
Ana-Maria Vranceanu, PhD is the David T. Rovee PhD and Joanne V. Rovee Endowed Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Founding Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR) within the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham (MGB). She is a clinical psychologist who conducts federally funded research focused on the development, testing and implementation of psychosocial interventions for patients, care-partners and dyads in both hospital and community settings.
Victoria Grunberg, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a clinical psychologist in the Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR) and Division of Newborn Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She leads the Education and Training Core at CHOIR and co-directs the Lifespan Health clinical psychology internship track at MGH. Her federally funded research aims to develop, test, and implement psychosocial interventions for families coping with critical care illness and stressful reproductive life events as well as for the staff who serve them.
