Hypnosis and Attention in Patients With a Neurological Disease (Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury and Multiple Sclerosis) (HYPNOVA)

August 12, 2026 updated by: Luzerner Kantonsspital

Hypnosis and Attention in Patients With a Neurological Disease

This feasibility study investigates the potential of hypnosis as a complementary therapy for improving attentional deficits and reducing fatigue in patients with neurological conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and multiple sclerosis (MS). These patients often experience reduced spontaneous visual exploration and impaired functional independence despite current rehabilitation approaches. By integrating hypnosis with standard care and using EEG to monitor brain activity during hypnosis and sham-hypnosis sessions, this trial aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of hypnosis in enhancing attention and reducing fatigue.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Neurological conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently cause significant impairments in attentional abilities. Commonly accompanying symptoms include visual spatial neglect (VSN) and fatigue syndrome, which exacerbate attentional deficits. These impairments manifest notably as a reduction in spontaneous or free visual exploration (FVE), limiting patients' ability to actively scan and engage with their environment. This diminished visual exploration negatively impacts their capacity to navigate daily surroundings, compromising functional independence and overall quality of life.

Current therapeutic approaches include cognitive rehabilitation, visual exploration training, and non-invasive brain stimulation to promote neuroplasticity and functional recovery. Additionally, management of fatigue focuses on energy regulation strategies in everyday life. Despite these interventions, many patients continue to experience persistent attentional deficits and fatigue after rehabilitation, limiting their ability to perform daily activities and return to previous roles.

Hypnosis is emerging as a promising adjunct therapy in neurological rehabilitation. Widely used in medical fields such as pain management and mental health, hypnosis leverages the brain's ability to enter a state of focused attention and heightened cognitive receptivity, facilitating symptom relief and treatment enhancement without pharmacological side effects. Preliminary evidence suggests hypnosis can improve attentional control and reduce fatigue in neurological populations.

However, research on hypnosis in neurology remains limited, with a need for larger, rigorously controlled studies to confirm its efficacy and understand underlying mechanisms. This feasibility study aims to assess the practicality and acceptability of using hypnosis to treat attentional deficits and fatigue in patients with stroke, TBI, and MS, while also evaluating preliminary efficacy.

A key aspect of this study involves recording electroencephalography (EEG) during both hypnosis and sham-hypnosis sessions. EEG data will provide insight into neural correlates of attentional processing and determine whether hypnosis induces measurable changes in brain activity relative to sham conditions.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

48

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ICD-10 Diagnosis of stroke, TBI or MS
  • Admitted to the inpatient and/or outpatient in the Clinic for Neurology and Neurorehabilitation
  • Age 18 years old or older
  • Understanding the German language
  • Written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

- Psychiatric disease

Exclusion criteria for the EEG:

- Scalp or skin conditions that interfere with EEG electrode placement (e.g. open wounds, infections, severe psoriasis) Implanted medical or neurostimulation devices that interfere with EEG electrode placement (e.g. deep brain stimulators, cochlear implants)

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: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: active: Intervention Hypnosis

Hypnosis Intervention Outpatient (Attention-Fatigue)

Participants receive hypnosis sessions designed to improve attention and reduce fatigue.
Other: Intervention Hypnosis
Hypnosis sessions designed to improve attentional control and reduce fatigue in patients with neurological conditions (stroke, TBI, MS). The intervention involves guided hypnotic induction and suggestions tailored to enhance cognitive focus and energy management.
Sham Comparator: Placebo: Control Sham Hypnosis

Sham Hypnosis Control

Participants receive sham hypnosis sessions serving as a control condition.
Other: Intervention Hypnosis
Hypnosis sessions designed to improve attentional control and reduce fatigue in patients with neurological conditions (stroke, TBI, MS). The intervention involves guided hypnotic induction and suggestions tailored to enhance cognitive focus and energy management.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feasibility of the study design and procedures
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 3 weeks
The primary objective is to evaluate the feasiblity of conducting the study by assessing the completion rate.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Video-oculography during free visual exploration
Time Frame: Change before and after the intervention over the period of 3 weeks.
The secondary endpoint is change in eye movement parameters during free visual exploration (FVE) from pre- to post-intervention, measured by video-oculography (mean gaze positions measured in °). Furthermore, between-group differences (hypnosis vs sham-hypnosis) in FVE parameters post-intervention.
Change before and after the intervention over the period of 3 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Luzerner Kantonsspital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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)

November 18, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

July 31, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 20, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 20, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

December 1, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 14, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 12, 2026

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2025-01374

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

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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