Anxiety and Depression in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Perspectives on the Use of Hypnosis.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent and debilitating respiratory condition, characterized by chronic airflow limitation, breathlessness, and other persistent respiratory symptoms. Critically, patients suffering from COPD often find themselves trapped in a vicious comorbidity cycle: while breathlessness and increased respiratory rate are known inducers of anxiety, the latter have been shown in turn to exacerbate breathlessness and chest discomfort. Hypnosis holds great potential for the simultaneous complementary management of anxiety and breathlessness in COPD. It is an inexpensive psychological intervention tailored to the patient's own experience, convenient in terms of logistics and implementation. In this short qualitative review, we present hypnosis' structural, cognitive, and neural fundamentals, and assess existing instances of hypnosis use in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and respiratory disease. We then discuss its potential as a tool for improving health-related quality of life and the self-management of COPD within (and beyond) pulmonary rehabilitation.

Hypnosis for the management of COPD-related anxiety and dyspnoea in pulmonary rehabilitation: rationale and design for a cluster-randomised, active-control trial (HYPNOBPCO_2).

Complementary psychological care is recommended for COPD, as it significantly reduces anxiety and boosts the pulmonary rehabilitation efficacy. In a precedent trial (HYPNOBPCO_1, ISRCTN10029862), administering a single hypnosis session was linked to reduced anxiety and improved breathing mechanics in intermediate and advanced COPD patients. However, whether hypnosis could improve self-management of anxiety and dyspnoea in COPD during pulmonary rehabilitation is yet to be investigated. This is the protocol for HYPNOBPCO_2, a 2-arm, cluster-randomised, statistician-blinded superiority monocentre trial (NCT04868357). Its aim is to assess the efficacy of hypnosis as a tool to manage anxiety and dyspnoea during a pulmonary rehabilitation programme (PRP). Clusters of COPD patients eligible for the conventional hospital-based PRP at the Centre Hospitalier de Bligny (CHB) will be randomised and evenly allocated into two parallel arms: "Hypnosis" (treatment) and "Relaxation" (active control). "Hypnosis" will consist of the CHB's conventional 4-week group PRP, supplemented by two educational sessions for teaching self-hypnosis. "Relaxation" will be identical, except standard relaxation exercises will be taught instead. Primary end-point will consist of assessing weekly changes in anxiety throughout the PRP, additional to total anxiety change after treatment completion. Anxiety will be determined by the six-item version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-6). Secondary outcomes will include change in the 6-min walk test and the COPD assessment test (CAT). Further follow-up outcomes will include CAT and STAI-6 retests, re-hospitalisation rate, action plan use and persistence in self-hypnosis use, throughout the 12 weeks ensuing PRP completion.

Hypnosis for the Management of Anxiety and Dyspnea in COPD: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Crossover Trial.

Background: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are prone to dyspnea, increased respiratory rate and other anxiety-inducing symptoms. Hypnosis constitutes a complementary procedure capable of improving subjective feelings of anxiety. Objective: Assessing the efficacy of a 15-minute hypnosis intervention for immediate improvement of anxiety in severe COPD patients. Methods: Twenty-one participants, COPD patients (mean FEV1 < 32.3%), were randomly assigned to two individual sessions in crossover (sham and hypnosis, 24-h washout period, arms: hypnosis-sham [n=11]/sham-hypnosis [n=10]). We tracked pre- and post-intervention anxiety (STAI-6 score) as primary endpoint. Results: Nineteen (90.5%) participants completed the study. Anxiety diminished significantly after hypnosis (STAI-6 scores -23.8% [SD = 18.4%] hypnosis vs -3.1% [32.8%] sham; χ2=8, P<0.01, Bayes Factor 5.5). Respiratory rate also decreased after hypnosis. Improvements in SpO2 and Borg exertion scores were registered after both conditions. Conclusion: A 15-minute hypnosis session improved participants' anxiety and lowered respiratory rate (as opposed to sham). Improvements in anxiety were correlated with an alleviation in respiratory strain. Results imply that hypnosis can contribute to the improvement of anxiety levels and breathing mechanics in severe COPD patients. Registration Id: ISRCTN10029862.

[2003 clinical practice guideline: Standards, Options and Recommendations for pain assessment in adult and children with cancer (summary report)]. / Recommandations pour la pratique clinique: Standards, Options et Recommandations pour l'évaluation de la douleur chez l'adulte et l'enfant atteints d'un cancer (mise à jour)--rapport abrégé.

CONTEXT: The "Standards, Options and Recommendations" (SOR) project, which started in 1993, is a collaboration between the French Federation of Cancer Centers (FNCLCC), the 20 French Regional Cancer Centers, and specialists from French public universities, general hospitals and private clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and the outcome of cancer patients. OBJECTIVE: To update clinical practice guidelines for the assessment of pain in adult or children with cancer in collaboration with the French society for pain study and treatment. METHOD: The methodology is based on a literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts who define the CPGs according to the definitions of the Standards, Options and Recommendations project. Once the guideline has been defined, the document is submitted for review by independent reviewers. RESULTS: This article is a summary version of the full document presenting the clinical practice guidelines with algorithms. The main recommendations concern the means used to evaluate pain and its consequences and their use in specific cases (acute or chronic pain, patients able to communicate or not, children under or over 6 years old). Others recommendations were also established concerning the evaluation ofpsychological, social and family context, the evaluation of pain in hospital or at home, in terminal phase patients and for the establishment of a therapeutic strategy and follow-up of patient with pain.

[Standards, options and recommendations for the use of medical analgesics for the treatment of pain arising from excess nociception in adults with cancer (update 2002)]. / Standards, Options et Recommandations 2002 pour les traitements antalgiques médicamenteux des douleurs cancéreuses par excès de nociception chez l'adulte, mise à jour (rapport abrégé).

CONTEXT: The "Standards, Options and Recommendations" (SOR) project, started in 1993, is a collaboration between the Federation of french cancer centers (FNCLCC), the 20 French cancer centers, and specialists from French public universities, general hospitals and private clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and the outcome of cancer patients. The methodology is based on a literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts, with feedback from specialists in cancer care delivery. OBJECTIVES: To develop clinical practice guidelines for the use of medical analgesics for the treatment of pain arising from excess nociception in adults with cancer according to the definitions of the Standards, Options and Recommendations project. METHODS: In 1996, a working group, set up by the FNCLCC published clinical practice guidelines for pain management in adult and paediatric patients with cancer. In the light of the evolution of our knowledge, and practice these guidelines need to be updated. The section on "medical analgesic treatments" in the document published in 1996 was examined by the working group to identify which questions should be updated. These questions and the relevant key words were used to develop a search strategy which was used to search Medline , and for particular questions, Embase , from January 1994 to March 1999, for relevant references, published in English or French. RESULTS: For this update, only a few randomised clinical trials were identified, and their conclusions were generally weak. Thus much of the information in this document is based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and represents the "state of the art" on this subject in France and is supported by expert agreement. Some changes to the original SOR are presented, eg. methods of titration, prescription of new opioids, opioid rotation. We also present a synthesis of recent pharmacological and regulatory data. The integral version is available on the FNCLCC web site (http://www.fnclcc.fr/sor.htm).

[Standards, options and recommendations for the use of medical analgesics for the treatment of pain arising from excess nociception in adults with cancer (update 2002): opioid analgesics with the exception of morphine by mouth and the rotation]. / Standards, Options et Recommandations 2002 pour les traitements antalgiques médicamenteux des douleurs cancéreuses par excès de nociception chez l'adulte, mise à jour : place des opioïdes forts (morphine orale exclue) et rotation des opioïdes.

CONTEXT: The "Standards, Options and Recommendations" (SOR) project, started in 1993, is a collaboration between the federation of French Cancer Centers (FNCLCC), the 20 French cancer centers, and specialists from French public universities, general hospitals and private clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and the outcome of cancer patients. The methodology is based on a literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts, with feedback from specialists in cancer care delivery. OBJECTIVES: To develop clinical practice guidelines for the use of opioid analgesics with the exception of oral morphine and for opioid rotation related to the treatment of nociceptive pain in adults with cancer according to the definitions of the Standards, Options and Recommendations project. METHODS: In 1996, a working group, set up by the FNCLCC published clinical practice guidelines for pain management in adult and paediatric patients with cancer: In the light of the evolution of knowledge, and practice these guidelines need to be updated The section on "médical analgesic treatments" in the document published in 1996 was examined by the working group to identify which questions should be updated. These questions and the relevant key words were used to develop a search strategy which was used to search Medline, and for particular questions, Embase, from January 1994 to March 1999, for relevant references, published in English or French. RESULTS: For this update, only a few randomised clinical trials were identified, and their conclusions were generally weak. Thus much of the information in this document is based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and represents the "state of the art" on this subject in France and is supported by expert agreement. Some changes to the original SOR are presented, particularly for the prescription of new opioids and opioid rotation. The full text of this SOR is available on the FNCLCC web site (http ://www.fnclcc.fr).