Effects of Mindfulness Meditation in Virtual Reality on Craving and Smoking Cessation (VIREAMIND)

January 12, 2026 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Henri Laborit

Investigators seek to propose a non-drug therapeutic alternative, namely a mindfulness meditation protocol based on virtual reality training in order to induce progressive modifications of various indicators of craving.

The study hypothesis is that the practice of mindfulness meditation in a virtual reality environment reduces the craving induced by cues and stress and therefore ultimately smoking relapse.

The main objective of the protocol will be to demonstrate that mindfulness meditation can reduce long-term relapse (continuous cessation (> 30 days) of smoking cessation).

The participants will be randomized into two groups: the experimental group will perform six virtual reality sessions in a multisensory cabin at the rate of one session per week; the control group will be prescribed the gold standard treatment (nicotine patches and chewing gum).

Participants will be seen again at three and six months to assess whether or not there has been a smoking relapse.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Any patient consuming 10 to 40 cigarettes per day
  • Woman or man aged 18 to 75 inclusive
  • Substance use disorder according to the DSM5 classification
  • Benefit from social security or benefit from it through a third party in accordance with French law on research involving the human person
  • Having signed the informed consent form after having received written information.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Disabling cognitive disorders
  • Patient under 18 or over 75 years old.
  • Patient with a psychological disorder or a psychiatric pathology requiring specialized follow-up
  • Patient with addiction to another product.
  • Cardiological pathologies that could compromise the participation of patients, detected by an ECG (only for patients who will be randomized in the experimental group).
  • Advanced pulmonary, renal, and hepatic diseases, or any unstable and serious medical conditions that could compromise the patient's participation in the study, subject to the judgment of the doctor
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding woman
  • Simultaneous participation in another trial
  • Employee of the investigator or of the clinical trial site
  • Patients protected by law
  • Patients who do not speak the French language
  • People not covered by state health insurance
  • Patients who in the opinion of the investigator are unable to complete the questionnaires
  • Patient claustrophobic or anxious about using the cabin
  • Patient allergic to a molecule present in nicotine substitutes

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Interventional Group

Patients in this arm will have 6 sessions of virtual reality in a pod (1 session per week).

Patients will then have a visit at day 90 and day 180.
Other: Virtual reality pod
The first two sessions provide guided training in relaxation and mindfulness through immersion in a virtual forest environment for the first session, and in a virtual beach environment for the second. Sessions 3 and 4 present environments with addiction-related stimuli (Cues). The session 3 consists of a walk through the virtual street environment, buying a bottle of water from the store, and then ordering a coffee from a virtual bar. The session 4 takes place in a virtual party environment in an apartment: people smoke and drink alcohol in the living room, the session consists of sitting with them, then going to the kitchen to get a water bottle. Sessions 5 and 6 present stressful environments. Session 5 consists of a virtual parachute jump. The 6th session takes place in a virtual airplane environment, which will encounter turbulence.
Active Comparator: Control group

Patients in this arm will receive the gold standard of treatment for tobacco cessation (nicotine patches and chewing gum) from day 0 (inclusion visit) to day 90.

Patients will then have a visit at day 90 and day 180.
Other: nicotine patches and chewing gum
Participants in this group will be prescribed a Gold Standard smoking cessation treatment with nicotine patches adapted to their consumption and 4mg nicotine chewing gum for a period of 3 months.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Relapse at 3 months
Time Frame: 3 months
Relapse of patients by declaring their consumption at 3 months.
3 months
Relapse at 6 months
Time Frame: 6 months
Relapse of patients by declaring their consumption at 6 months.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Centre Hospitalier Henri Laborit

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 15, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 15, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 18, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 10, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

March 13, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 12, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2022-A02004-39

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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