Efficacy of Hypnotherapy for Agoraphobia (WIKI-A)

University Hospital Tuebingen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Agoraphobia

Treatments: Behavioral: Hypnotherapy for Agoraphobia

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03684577

WIKI-A

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to compare the efficacy of Hypnotherapy for the treatment of Agoraphobia compared to a wait-list control group.

Full description

With the present study, the efficacy of 8-12 sessions of individual Hypnotherapy will be compared to a wait-list control groups. At study entry and at the end of treatment with Hypnotherapy, the Agoraphobia symptoms will be assessed via clinician-rating and self-report. It is expected that Hypnotherapy will be superior to a wait-list control regarding the percentage reduction of the anxiety symptoms after three months of treatment.

Enrollment: 36 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Written informed consent
• Patient fulfills DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) criteria for agoraphobia
• 18 - 65 years of age
• Sufficient knowledge of the German language in order to participate in the study
• Sufficient availability to participate in weekly therapy sessions

Exclusion criteria

• Acute suicidality (intended action, concrete plans or intermittent pronounced suicidal ideation)
• Lifetime diagnosis of a bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder
• Alcohol or substance use disorder without abstinence in the last 12 months
• Severe cognitive impairments (in cases of suspicion evaluation via Mini Mental State Test (MMST) < 26, will be conducted)
• Other severe primary mental disorders to be treated: severe Major Depressive Disorder, severe personality disorder of borderline type with self-injury, severe combined personality disorder, actual posttraumatic stress disorder, anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder
• Somatic disorder impeding participation in regular psychotherapy sessions
• Outpatient psychotherapy during the last twelve months.
• Medication with anxiolytics or anti-psychotics (antidepressant medication is permitted if stable since more than eight weeks and no planned changes during the duration of therapy)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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36 participants in 2 patient groups

Hypnotherapy for Agoraphobia

Experimental group

Description:

A total of 8-12 individual sessions of hypnotherapy over 12 weeks will be delivered. Hypnotherapy consists of hypnotic activation and reinforcement of the patient's own resources, the use of relevant positive and negative experiences from the biography, and the development of positive solution imagery. The central technique is the work with a symptom regression and the resolution of old and actual experiences. Furthermore, formal trance induction, utilisation techniques, indirect techniques such as the use of metaphors or the representative technique, or work with time progression will be used.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Hypnotherapy for Agoraphobia

Wait-list control group

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients in the wait-list control group will receive 8-12 sessions of individual hypnotherapy after a waiting period for 12 weeks.