The effect of motor interference therapy in traumatic memories: A pilot study

Traumatic memories of events such as a life-threatening incident, serious injury, or sexual violence are a core symptom of stress-related disorders; they might be susceptible to positive modification with interference tasks (reconsolidation-based interventions). Our objective was to test the effect of performing a motor interference task (finger tapping in response to audio cues) on patients who suffer from traumatic memories.

We designed an uncontrolled pilot prospective clinical trial. Ten participants listened to an audio track that instructed them to tap their fingers in response to specific audio cues while trying to recall the traumatic event. Each patient underwent an assessment including the Spanish version of the PTSD Symptom Severity Scale-Revised (EGS-R), the visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) from EuroQol 5D (EQ-5D), and a simple visual analogue scale (VAS) before the intervention, immediately after, and a week after the treatment.

All measures exhibited a statistically significant improvement 1 week after the study. On the PTSD scale, 1 week later, 30% of the patients did not score high enough for such diagnosis. The VAS measured immediately following the intervention (4.4, SD = 2.22) also improved (p < .001), and 30% of the patients scored zero. One week after the intervention, the VAS improved more than 50% CONCLUSION: The rapid 1-week improvement on the PSTD scale and the VAS after a 30 min intervention support the idea of further research using a double-blind, controlled design powered to demonstrate the efficacy of motor interference, an easy-to-apply therapeutic tool, in the treatment of traumatic memories.