Reducing Itch With Hypnosis and Virtual Reality

Launched by UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN · Jan 20, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is exploring a new treatment for chronic itch, a condition that can be very uncomfortable and hard to manage. The researchers are testing a combination of hypnosis and virtual reality (VR), known as VRH, to see if it can help reduce the itch and the emotional burden that comes with it. While hypnosis has helped some people with itch in the past, the team hopes that adding VR will make it easier for people to relax and imagine a different environment, potentially leading to better results.

To participate in this study, you need to be an adult aged 18 to 80 who has been dealing with chronic itch for at least a year. It’s important that you have already seen a doctor for your itch and are experiencing difficulties in daily life because of it. Participants will take part in six treatment sessions and will be compared to a group that is not receiving the treatment at first. This trial is currently looking for volunteers, and participants should be comfortable speaking and understanding Dutch. If you have certain health issues or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you may not be eligible to join.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Participants must be adults (aged 18-80 years)
• • Participants must have been suffering from chronic pruritus of any origin for at least 1 year prior to inclusion in this study
• • Participants must have been seen by a physician for the itch
• • Participants must experience psychological and/or functional impairment due to the itch despite standard medical treatment.
• • Participants must speak and understand Dutch and be able to complete questionnaires.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Severe psychiatric comorbidities irrelated to their itch condition such as psychosis or severe clinical depression or anxiety disorder (anxiety and depressive symptoms in itself are common in individuals with chronic symptoms and therefore no reason for exclusion);
• • History of seizures;
• • History of severe migraine;
• • Severe susceptibility to motion sickness;
• • Balance problems;
• • Face, head, or neck injury;
• • Visual or audiological impairment;
• • Pacemaker, defibrillator and/or other electronic (implantable) device of vital importance;
• • Pregnancy;
• • Lactation;
• • Participation in another interventional itch study.