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Clinical trial: The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation in Veterans With Epilepsy

July 18, 2018

Brief Summary: 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 outcome measures 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.

Estimated study start date: August 2018
Estimated study completion date: September 2020

Eligibility Criteria:

Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years to 90 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study: All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Inclusion Criteria

  • Diagnosis of epilepsy, according to the using the 2014 International League Against Epilepsy criteria.
  • Adults over the age of 18.
  • Willingness to participate in mindfulness meditation sessions weekly for 8 weeks.
  • Being able to read at a 6th grade level.
  • Being able to understand the study, consent form, and guided instructions during mindfulness meditation.

 

Exclusion Criteria

  • Having an isolated diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
  • Having a diagnosis of major neurocognitive disorder previously known as dementia which would make the patient unable to follow guided instructions during mindfulness meditation.