Lei XY, Chen LH, Qian LQ, Lu XD. Psychological interventions for post-stroke anxiety and depression: Current approaches and future perspectives. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(6): 103270 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i6.103270]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xu-Dong Lu, Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, The Second Hospital of Jiaxing, No. 1518 Huancheng North Road, Nanhu District, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China. luxudongs2024@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Jun 19, 2025; 15(6): 103270 Published online Jun 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i6.103270
Psychological interventions for post-stroke anxiety and depression: Current approaches and future perspectives
Xiao-Yun Lei, Lu-Huan Chen, Li-Qi Qian, Xu-Dong Lu
Xiao-Yun Lei, Lu-Huan Chen, Li-Qi Qian, Xu-Dong Lu, Department of Neurology, The Second Hospital of Jiaxing, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Lei XY wrote the main manuscript; Chen LH performed data collection; Qian LQ participated in references check work, collection of key words, verifying rationality of data from references, and providing main information in references; Lei XY, Chen LH, Qian LQ, and Lu XD analyzed and interpreted results, reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript, and were informed of each step of manuscript processing including submission, revision, revision reminder.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xu-Dong Lu, Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, The Second Hospital of Jiaxing, No. 1518 Huancheng North Road, Nanhu District, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China. luxudongs2024@163.com
Received: December 5, 2024 Revised: January 22, 2025 Accepted: April 17, 2025 Published online: June 19, 2025 Processing time: 174 Days and 23.9 Hours
Abstract
Psychological interventions have demonstrated efficacy in improving patients’ emotional state, cognition, and thinking abilities, thereby enhancing their quality of life and survival. This review examines literature from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, Web of Science, and PubMed databases published over the past decade, focusing on the use of psychotherapy for post-stroke anxiety and depression. The prevalence of anxiety and depression is significantly higher among patients who have experienced a stroke than in the general population, possibly due to vestibular dysfunction following brain injury. Current psychological interventions for stroke patients include cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive psychotherapy, music and art therapy, and exercise therapy. These approaches have been shown to promote psychological wellbeing and physical rehabilitation.
Core Tip: The prevalence of anxiety and depression is significantly higher among patients who have experienced a stroke than in the general population, possibly due to vestibular dysfunction following brain injury. Psychological interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive psychotherapy, music and art therapy, and exercise therapy, effectively alleviate post-stroke anxiety and depression, promoting patients’ emotional well-being and physical rehabilitation.
