The nest position - an innovative physiotherapeutic intervention for female patients with severe neglect during childhood

Not Applicable

• Conditions: F44.7; F43.1; Mixed dissociative [conversion] disorders; Post-traumatic stress disorder

• Registration Number: DRKS00030669
• Lead Sponsor: Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Klinikum Rechts der Isar München

Brief Summary

The majority of the study participants experienced lying in the nest position as pleasant: the women felt safe and secure and perceived the intervention as supportive and calming. This was also reflected in a reduced self-reported experience of stress (SUD) in the patients (partially statistically significant) and the healthy controls (in no case statistically significant). In addition, comfort (SUC) was significantly higher during all measurement phases for the patients, but only partially for the healthy controls. Only heterogeneous trends were observed with respect to the psychophysiological parameters: Significant increases in PEP during the measurement phases with the nest position indicated a decrease in sympathetic tone, especially in the healthy controls. There was no significant increase in parasympathetic tone in either patients or healthy controls (RMSSD). The same was true for the IBI, although the nonetheless higher values during most of the time in the nest position also might indicate lower sympathetic tone.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Completion: 2021-11-07
• Results First Posted: 2022-06-10
• Study Start: 2023-10-04
• Last Update Posted: 19 August 2024

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Complete
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 36

Inclusion Criteria

arm 1: females, diagnosed with dissociative disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder
- arm 2: healthy females without current or previous mental illness

Exclusion Criteria

- arm 1: severe physical illness, psychotic disorder, substance abuse disorder, use of benzodiazepine, beta-blockers and antiarrhythmic drugs
- arm 2: see arm 1 + previous or current mental illness

Study & Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
subjective experience of stress (measured by Subjective Units of Distress [SUD] through questionnaire at the end of each measurement phase); psychophysiological experience of stress/parasympathetic drive (continuously measured by root mean square of successive differences [RMSSD] through impedance cardiography)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
subjective experience of comfort (measured by Subjective Units of Comfort [SUC] through questionnaire at the end of each measurement phase); psychophysiological experience of stress/sympathetic drive (continuously measured by inter-beat interval [IBI] and pre-ejection period [PEP] through electro- and impedance cardiography)