The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation in Veterans With Epilepsy
| Status: | Recruiting |
|---|---|
| Conditions: | Neurology, Epilepsy |
| Therapuetic Areas: | Neurology, Other |
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | 18 - 90 |
| Updated: | 3/10/2019 |
| Start Date: | February 8, 2019 |
| End Date: | September 2020 |
| Contact: | Maria R Lopez, MD |
| Email: | Maria.Lopez8@va.gov |
| Phone: | 3055753192 |
The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation in Veterans With Epilepsy: Can Seizures and Psychiatric Comorbidities Improve
Epilepsy is one of the fourth most common neurological disorder and affects people of all
ages and about 25 % of those patients have medically intractable epilepsy. Since the
traditional pharmaceutical and surgical approach is not always effective, this study intends
to investigate a novel approach using mindfulness as adjunctive tool of treatment for
veterans with epilepsy.
This study proposes a randomized, single-blinded pilot investigative trial to assess the
effectiveness of mindfulness meditation. The measures outcomes include seizure frequency,
number of ER visits, quality of life, depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), sleep quality and alcohol use in patients with Epilepsy. The cohort group will be
randomized in two groups, one is the group of patients getting mindful meditation weekly
during 8 weeks compared to patients in the waiting list who have the desire to participate.
ages and about 25 % of those patients have medically intractable epilepsy. Since the
traditional pharmaceutical and surgical approach is not always effective, this study intends
to investigate a novel approach using mindfulness as adjunctive tool of treatment for
veterans with epilepsy.
This study proposes a randomized, single-blinded pilot investigative trial to assess the
effectiveness of mindfulness meditation. The measures outcomes include seizure frequency,
number of ER visits, quality of life, depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), sleep quality and alcohol use in patients with Epilepsy. The cohort group will be
randomized in two groups, one is the group of patients getting mindful meditation weekly
during 8 weeks compared to patients in the waiting list who have the desire to participate.
This is a randomized control trial of the impact of mindfulness meditation in patients with
known diagnosis of epilepsy over the course of 2 years.
Participating physicians will recruit patients meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria
who have been diagnosed and treated in the epilepsy clinic at the Miami Veteran hospital.
Upon completion of screening and enrolment procedures study participants will be randomly
assigned to one of the two groups using a randomized call-in system: Treatment with weekly
sessions of mindfulness meditation for 8 weeks or placement in the waiting list.
Demographics will be obtained for both groups during the initial clinic visit. The epilepsy
variable questionnaire will also be completed during the initial appointment in the epilepsy
clinic (this will assess seizure frequency, number of ER visits 3 months prior, adherence to
antiepileptic medications reviewing the electronic pharmacy log with dates of medication
being dispensed at the Veteran Medical Center.
All patients will be scheduled to have an initial appointment with the clinical psychologist
to fill out the complete a battery of questionnaires including: Quality of life inventory in
epilepsy (QOLIE-31), alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT), Beck depression
inventory (BDI-II), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), drug abuse screening test (dast-10),
Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia severity, patient health questionnaires (PHQ), Post
traumatic
The patients who do not initially receive mindfulness meditation will continue to receive
standard of care and will be placed in a second phase of randomization where they will have a
chance to once again be randomized to one of the groups.
This process will continue until a total of at least 40 patients has been recruited. After
the recruitment has been completed, the remainder of the patients will be given the
opportunity to participate in mindfulness medication if they so desire.
The hypothesis is that mindfulness meditation group will have more favorable outcomes than
patients in the waitlist group in terms of the primary outcome of reduction in seizure
frequency and secondary outcomes including number of ER visits, improvement in quality of
life, decreasing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and/or PTSD, improvement in sleep quality,
and decreased alcohol use.
Physicians will be blinded to which group patients are assigned during data collection. All
of the participants will have a weekly clinic note titled Psychology Note in the clinic MIA
MH PSYCHOL MINDFUL GRP. The notes will document the session if patient is in the mindfulness
meditation group or will document that the patient remains on the waiting list. The
physicians will not access these notes and will remain blinded to the patient assignment and
upon completion of the study the data will be de-identified and analyzed by the statistician.
known diagnosis of epilepsy over the course of 2 years.
Participating physicians will recruit patients meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria
who have been diagnosed and treated in the epilepsy clinic at the Miami Veteran hospital.
Upon completion of screening and enrolment procedures study participants will be randomly
assigned to one of the two groups using a randomized call-in system: Treatment with weekly
sessions of mindfulness meditation for 8 weeks or placement in the waiting list.
Demographics will be obtained for both groups during the initial clinic visit. The epilepsy
variable questionnaire will also be completed during the initial appointment in the epilepsy
clinic (this will assess seizure frequency, number of ER visits 3 months prior, adherence to
antiepileptic medications reviewing the electronic pharmacy log with dates of medication
being dispensed at the Veteran Medical Center.
All patients will be scheduled to have an initial appointment with the clinical psychologist
to fill out the complete a battery of questionnaires including: Quality of life inventory in
epilepsy (QOLIE-31), alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT), Beck depression
inventory (BDI-II), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), drug abuse screening test (dast-10),
Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia severity, patient health questionnaires (PHQ), Post
traumatic
The patients who do not initially receive mindfulness meditation will continue to receive
standard of care and will be placed in a second phase of randomization where they will have a
chance to once again be randomized to one of the groups.
This process will continue until a total of at least 40 patients has been recruited. After
the recruitment has been completed, the remainder of the patients will be given the
opportunity to participate in mindfulness medication if they so desire.
The hypothesis is that mindfulness meditation group will have more favorable outcomes than
patients in the waitlist group in terms of the primary outcome of reduction in seizure
frequency and secondary outcomes including number of ER visits, improvement in quality of
life, decreasing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and/or PTSD, improvement in sleep quality,
and decreased alcohol use.
Physicians will be blinded to which group patients are assigned during data collection. All
of the participants will have a weekly clinic note titled Psychology Note in the clinic MIA
MH PSYCHOL MINDFUL GRP. The notes will document the session if patient is in the mindfulness
meditation group or will document that the patient remains on the waiting list. The
physicians will not access these notes and will remain blinded to the patient assignment and
upon completion of the study the data will be de-identified and analyzed by the statistician.
Inclusion Criteria:
1. Diagnosis of epilepsy, according to the using the 2014 International League Against
Epilepsy criteria
2. Adults over the age of 18
3. Willingness to participate in mindfulness meditation sessions weekly for 8 weeks
4. Being able to read at a 6th grade level.
5. Being able to understand the study, consent form, and guided instructions during
mindfulness meditation.
Exclusion Criteria:
1. Having an isolated diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
2. Having a diagnosis of major neurocognitive disorder previously known as dementia which
would make the patient unable to follow guided instructions during mindfulness
meditation.
We found this trial at
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