NCT04793542

Hot Water Immersion Therapy for Mental Health

Evaluating Whether Lower-limb Hot Water Immersion Therapy Can Improve Symptoms in Individuals Diagnosed With Depression, Anxiety, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorders

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 150 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Lakehead University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

In 2016, it was estimated that nearly 1 billion people worldwide were affected by a mental or addictive disorder, and were associated with considerable excess mortality. Acute heat therapy sessions (e.g. whole-body heating or foot immersions) have been shown to improve symptoms in individuals diagnosed with common mental health illness such as major depressive disorders and reduce anxiety. This study will assess the impact of an at-home 8-week lower-limb immersion in hot water on symptom severity in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and PTSD.

Conditions

• Anxiety Disorders
• Depression
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
• Heat
• Water Immersion

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	lower-limb hot water immersion	For a minimum of 30 minutes, 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks, participants will submerge their lower-limbs into 30-32°C (lukewarm) or 39-40°C (hot) water which will be measured with a supplied waterproof thermometer.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-03-15
• Primary completion: 2022-12-15
• Completion: 2023-03-15
• First posted: 2021-03-11
• Last updated: 2021-03-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada