Efficacy of Hypnosis and Catalepsy Induction in Functional Neurological Disorders

Overview

Journal Mov Disord Clin Pract

Publisher Wiley

Specialty Neurology

Date 2024 Feb 22

PMID 38386488

Authors

Marleen Ieke Tibben

Amras van Opdorp

Wojtek Bialek

Judith Schaap

Marina A J Tijssen

Maarten J M Merkx

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Patients with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) experience complex patterns of motor and/or sensory symptoms. Treatment studies of psychological interventions are promising but limited.

Objectives: The aim of the current pilot study is to investigate the effect of treatment consisting of a combination of hypnosis and catalepsy induction on FND symptom severity.

Methods: A within-subject waiting list-control design was used with 46 patients diagnosed with FND. The treatment consisted of 10 sessions. The primary outcome measure was FND symptom severity (The Psychogenic Movement Disorder Rating Scale; PMDRS). The secondary outcome measures were psychological distress and quality of life.

Results: The repeated measures (RM) ANOVA for the PMDRS as outcome measure revealed a significant effect for time with a large effect size (η = 0.679). Pairwise comparisons indicated that the effect of time in the treatment period was significant for the measure of FND symptom severity, whereas the waiting list period was not. The effect remained stable even at 8 weeks post treatment. As for the additional measurement, general psychological distress and quality of life, no statistically significant differences between individual time points were found.

Conclusions: This pilot study showed that eight sessions of treatment consisting of a combination of hypnosis and catalepsy induction was effective in reducing FND symptom severity. Some explanations and limitations are provided in the paper as well as several avenues of future research.

Citing Articles

Biomarkers and Rehabilitation for Functional Neurological Disorder.

Mark V J Pers Med. 2024; 14(9).

PMID: 39338202 PMC: 11433361. DOI: 10.3390/jpm14090948.

References

Moene F, Spinhoven P, Hoogduin K, van Dyck R . A randomised controlled clinical trial on the additional effect of hypnosis in a comprehensive treatment programme for in-patients with conversion disorder of the motor type. Psychother Psychosom. 2002; 71(2):66-76. DOI: 10.1159/000049348. View

Deeley Q . Hypnosis as therapy for functional neurologic disorders. Handb Clin Neurol. 2016; 139:585-595. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-801772-2.00047-3. View

Stone J, Carson A, Duncan R, Coleman R, Roberts R, Warlow C . Symptoms 'unexplained by organic disease' in 1144 new neurology out-patients: how often does the diagnosis change at follow-up?. Brain. 2009; 132(Pt 10):2878-88. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awp220. View

Nicholson T, Carson A, Edwards M, Goldstein L, Hallett M, Mildon B . Outcome Measures for Functional Neurological Disorder: A Review of the Theoretical Complexities. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2019; 32(1):33-42. DOI: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.19060128. View

Fobian A, Elliott L . A review of functional neurological symptom disorder etiology and the integrated etiological summary model. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2018; 44(1):8-18. PMC: 6306282. DOI: 10.1503/jpn.170190. View

Wieder L, Brown R, Thompson T, Terhune D . Suggestibility in functional neurological disorder: a meta-analysis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2020; 92(2):150-157. DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2020-323706. View

. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL): development and general psychometric properties. Soc Sci Med. 1998; 46(12):1569-85. DOI: 10.1016/s0277-9536(98)00009-4. View

Carlier I, Kovacs V, van Noorden M, van der Feltz-Cornelis C, Mooij N, Schulte-van Maaren Y . Evaluating the Responsiveness to Therapeutic Change with Routine Outcome Monitoring: A Comparison of the Symptom Questionnaire-48 (SQ-48) with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ-45). Clin Psychol Psychother. 2015; 24(1):61-71. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.1978. View

Hagenaars M, Roelofs K, Hoogduin K, van Minnen A . Motor and sensory dissociative phenomena associated with induced catalepsy: A brief communication. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2006; 54(2):234-44. DOI: 10.1080/00207140500528547. View

10.

Trompenaars F, Masthoff E, Van Heck G, Hodiamont P, de Vries J . Content validity, construct validity, and reliability of the WHOQOL-Bref in a population of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients. Qual Life Res. 2005; 14(1):151-60. DOI: 10.1007/s11136-004-0787-x. View

11.

Pick S, Anderson D, Asadi-Pooya A, Aybek S, Baslet G, Bloem B . Outcome measurement in functional neurological disorder: a systematic review and recommendations. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2020; 91(6):638-649. PMC: 7279198. DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2019-322180. View

12.

Ricciardi L, Edwards M . Treatment of functional (psychogenic) movement disorders. Neurotherapeutics. 2013; 11(1):201-7. PMC: 3899472. DOI: 10.1007/s13311-013-0246-x. View

13.

Sacerdote P . An analysis of induction procedures in hypnosis. Am J Clin Hypn. 1970; 12(4):236-53. DOI: 10.1080/00029157.1970.10402059. View

14.

Edwards M, Adams R, Brown H, Parees I, Friston K . A Bayesian account of 'hysteria'. Brain. 2012; 135(Pt 11):3495-512. PMC: 3501967. DOI: 10.1093/brain/aws129. View

15.

Carson A, Brown R, David A, Duncan R, Edwards M, Goldstein L . Functional (conversion) neurological symptoms: research since the millennium. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012; 83(8):842-50. DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2011-301860. View

16.

Espay A, Aybek S, Carson A, Edwards M, Goldstein L, Hallett M . Current Concepts in Diagnosis and Treatment of Functional Neurological Disorders. JAMA Neurol. 2018; 75(9):1132-1141. PMC: 7293766. DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.1264. View

17.

Feinstein A . Conversion Disorder. Continuum (Minneap Minn). 2018; 24:861-872. DOI: 10.1212/CON.0000000000000601. View

18.

Moene F, Spinhoven P, Hoogduin K, van Dyck R . A randomized controlled clinical trial of a hypnosis-based treatment for patients with conversion disorder, motor type. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2003; 51(1):29-50. DOI: 10.1076/iceh.51.1.29.14067. View

19.

Miyasaki J, Sa D, Galvez-Jimenez N, Lang A . Psychogenic movement disorders. Can J Neurol Sci. 2003; 30 Suppl 1:S94-100. DOI: 10.1017/s0317167100003292. View

20.

Hinson V, Cubo E, Comella C, Goetz C, Leurgans S . Rating scale for psychogenic movement disorders: scale development and clinimetric testing. Mov Disord. 2005; 20(12):1592-7. DOI: 10.1002/mds.20650. View