Skip to content

Non-pharmacological Treatments for Parasomnias

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Non-pharmacological Treatments for Parasomnias: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05953207
Acronym
Hypnosomnia
Enrollment
110
Registered
2023-07-20
Start date
2023-08-30
Completion date
2026-08-15
Last updated
2026-07-14

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

NREM Parasomnia

Keywords

Medical hypnosis

Brief summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the efficacy of non-pharmacological treatments (medical hypnosis and standard treatment) in patients with a non-REM parasomnia diagnosis (N=60). Participants are randomly assigned to one of the two treatments. Treatment consists of 3 sessions. Participants receiving the standard treatment (i.e., sleep hygiene and episode risk reduction) may subsequently receive medical hypnosis. Participation in the study involves 5 visits in total: 3 treatment visits and 2 study visits to the hospital (CHUV). * An initial study visit to provide information and collect questionnaires prior to the start of treatment. An initial non-therapeutic hypnosis session will be carried out during electroencephalography (EEG). Estimated duration: 2h. * A second study visit at the end of treatment, including questionnaires about your sleep and treatment. A shorter non-therapeutic hypnosis session and a second EEG will be performed. Estimated duration: 1h30. This visit may also be followed by an overnight polysomnography, according to patient's choice (if performed, estimated total duration 12 hrs). This study also involves monitoring patients' sleep for 10 nights before and after treatment: they will fill in a sleep diary and use an infrared camera. For the validation of the EEG methodology, healthy volunteers (N=50) will complete a unique visit resembling the initial study visit of patients.

Interventions

Hypnosis intervention with specific suggestions (i.e., patient's own dreamlike mentation)

OTHERStandard Of Care

Sleep hygiene and safety education session

Sponsors

Chantal Berna Renella
Lead SponsorOTHER
University of Lausanne Hospitals
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Patients with NREM parasomnia (N=60): Inclusion Criteria: * Non-REM parasomnias diagnosis according to the international classification disease of sleep disorders * Willling and able to give informed consent * Reporting at least one parasomniac episode per month * Reporting at least one parasomniac episode the month prior

Exclusion criteria

* Refusal to use the home video recording device * Current or planned intake (during the next 2 months) of medications/substances that may interfere with sleep architecture (e.g., hypnotics, neuroleptics, antidepressants, benzodiazepines) * A comorbid significant somatic disease altering the brain (e.g., cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, dementia) * A comorbid sleep disorder (e.g., apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) \>= 20/hour, REM sleep behaviour disorder, restless legs syndrome with symptoms more than 2 days/week) * A comorbid psychiatric disorder (e.g., severe depressive or anxiety disorder or psychotic disorder) Healthy volunteers (N=50): Inclusion Criteria: \- Adult (≥ 18 yo) willing and able to give informed consent.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change, from pre-treatment, of mean number of parasomniac episodes at 9 weeksOver a recording period of 10 consecutives nights, 2 weeks before (pre-treatment) and 3 weeks after (at 9 weeks) the treatmentParasomniac episodes scored on infrared home video recording

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Duration of parasomniac episodesOver a recording period of 10 consecutives nights, 2 weeks before (pre-treatment) and 3 weeks after (at Week 9) treatmentUsing home video recording
Rate of confusional arousals, sleepwalking and sleep terrors episodesOver a recording period of 10 consecutives nights, 2 weeks before (pre-treatment) and 3 weeks after (at Week 9) the treatmentCategorization of parasomniac episodes' complexity (confusional arousals, sleepwalking, sleep terrors) using home video recording
Incidence of emotions related to parasomniac episodesThrough study duration, an average of 9 weeksEmotional impact of parasomniac episodes using questionnaires (e.g., What emotions did you feel during these episodes?; Do you have negative emotions related to your parasomnias?)
Quality of life scoreAt Day 0, Week 11 and Week 18Using a standardized questionnaire: World Health Organization Quality Of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Score ranging from 0 to 100, higher score denoting greater perceived quality of life.
Anxiety and depression scoresAt Day 0 and Week 11Using a standardized questionnaire: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Subscale score ranging from 3 to 21, score \>8 denotes anxiety or depression.
Traumatic events scoreAt Day 0Using a standardized questionnaire: Life Event Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5). It does not yield a total score or a composite score.
Fatigue scoreAt Week 2, Week 11 and Week 18Using a standardized questionnaire: Pichot's fatigue scale. Score ranging from 0 to 32, score \>22 denotes excessive fatigue.
Sleepiness scoreAt Week 2, Week 11 and Week 18Using a standardized questionnaire: Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Score ranging from 0 to 24, higher score denoting higher daytime sleepiness.
Sleep quality scoreAt Week 2, Week 11 and Week 18Using a standardized questionnaire: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Score ranging from 0 to 21, higher score denoting greater acute sleep disturbances.
Severity of arousal disorders scoreAt Week 2, Week 11 and Week 18Using a standardized questionnaire: Paris Arousal Disorders Severity Scale (PADSS). Score ranging from 0 to 50, higher score denoting more severed disorders.
Circadian typology scoreAt Week 2, Week 11 and Week 18Using a standardized questionnaire: Horne \& Östberg questionnaire. Score ranging from 16 to 86, higher score denoting morningness and lower score eveningness.
Changes in sleep architectureAt Day 0 and Week 11Using power spectral sleep EEG analysis including delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), sigma (12-16 Hz), and beta (18-30 Hz) frequency bands with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
Sleep eye movementsAt Week 11 (optional)Using power spectral sleep EOG analysis (left and right) with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
Sleep muscles activityAt Week 11 (optional)Using power spectral sleep EMG analysis (chin and anterior tibialis muscle) with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®
Sleep cardiac activityAt Week 11 (optional)Using power spectral sleep ECG analysis (P wave, QRS complex, QT interval, PR interval...) with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
Sleep oxygen saturationAt Week 11 (optional)Using sleep oxygen saturation measures with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
Sleep airflowAt Week 11 (optional)Using sleep airflow measures with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
Sleep respiratory effortsAt Week 11 (optional)Using abdominal and thoracic respiratory efforts measures with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
SnoringAt Week 11 (optional)Using snoring measures with Titanium, Embla®, NOX-A1®.
Changes in imagery processesAt Day 0 and Week 11 for patients.Using patients' EEG measures (N=60) collected with a 124-channel waveguardTMoriginal EEG cap and during 3-minute pleasant imagery suggestion audio recordings.
Validation of the EEG methodology for the imagery processes recordingsAt Day 0Using healthy volunteers' EEG measures (N=50) collected with a 124-channel waveguardTMoriginal EEG and during 5-minute pleasant imagery suggestion audio recordings.

Countries

Switzerland

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORChantal Berna Renella, Prof

CHUV

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 15, 2026