Cognitive-behavioural therapy with a Huntington's gene positive patient

Abstract

The treatment of choice for depression or anxiety after genetic testing is the use of medication. The present paper reports a case of a lady who had a positive test result for Huntington's disease (HD). After the predictive test her mood declined and she experienced symptoms of anxiety. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) enabled her to deal effectively with her negative automatic thoughts (NATs) and interpret situations more realistically. Therapy was successful in reducing her level of physical, behavioural and affective symptoms and in increasing her sense of control. These gains were maintained at 3 and 6 months in spite of the death of her mother. The paper discussed the potential value of cognitive-behavioural theory and therapy in similar cases.