NCT04687904

Mindfulness Meditation for Epilepsy

Mindfulness Meditation for Epilepsy: Effect of Mindfulness Meditation Practice on Quality of Life and EEG Activity in Refractory Epilepsy

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 37 (actual)
• Sponsor: Rennes University Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 16 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

In one-third of epileptic patients treated in France, seizures persist despite drug treatment. These so-called "refractory" epilepsies are among the most severe. Only a minority of patients with refractory epilepsy can undergo surgery. The other options available are based on brain or vagus nerve stimulation interventions which clinical effectiveness is still being studied. Alternative therapies are needed both to decrease the frequency of patients' seizures and to improve their quality of life. The practice of mindfulness meditation has recently been included in the recommendations of the International League Against Epilepsy in order to alleviate anxiety or depression comorbid symptoms. This study falls within this framework by targeting two aspects of the pathology.

Detailed description

Through the development of standardized protocols, mindfulness meditation has been introduced as a complementary treatment to prevent the relapse of depression, and to reduce stress and improve well-being in many chronic conditions. Epilepsy, which results from the activity of hyperexcitable circuits, is also associated with a disorganization of the physiological brain networks. Studies in cognitive neuroscience in healthy subjects suggest that meditation induces lasting changes in the physiological networks of attention and default mode and could potentially compensate for dysfunctions of these networks in epileptic patients.

Conditions

• Epilepsy
• Healthy Subjects

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Mindfulness meditation training	Patients will be able to benefit from mindfulness meditation training at the rate of 1h30 in the morning and 1h30 in the afternoon. During this training, patients will be invited to share with the psychologist their vision of mindfulness meditation and their expectations of this practice. The psychologist will then introduce what mindfulness is and how the sessions will take place. Several sessions guided by the psychologist will then be offered to the patient (body scan, focused attention, mindfulness movements...).
BEHAVIORAL	Therapeutic education	Patients will benefit from a 2-hour interview which will be conducted by the psychologist associated with the project. The aim of this interview is to help patients better understand their disease in order to adopt the right behaviors on a daily basis. This session will inform patients about their disease, its origins, its treatment, the difficulties it causes and the means to remedy it. The objective of this session is to better understand and manage epilepsy and to enable patients to take an active part in the process of care and management of the disease. No specific instructions will be given at the end of this interview.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-01-14
• Primary completion: 2024-06-06
• Completion: 2024-06-23
• First posted: 2020-12-29
• Last updated: 2026-02-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France