Brain gym for psychiatric patients | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

What even doesn't work cannot hurt, huh? - But it's expensive.

Well, on the other side physical and spiritual exercises keep them busy, a means against having an ill brain in idle mode.

No evidence
Marcus Huibers is a psychotherapy professor at Maastricht University. He’s a supporter of treatment based on scientific research. The cognitive fitness method might work, he says, but there’s no evidence to prove it.

“You’d have to compare the group with a group that did no training to see what the effect was. I’m not sure if this training programme does any more than other treatment methods. It’s very important to activate these kinds of people, but I don’t know if this is the method. These patients aren’t always suited to group training, and they benefit more from tailor-made treatment.”

In his field there are many types of training on the market, he says. “They vary a lot, but they all have an average effect.” He doesn’t expect any miracles from cognitive fitness.