MR-MS STUDY: RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL TO EVALUATE THE EFFICACY OF A MEDITATIVE RELAXATION PRACTICE ON QUALITY OF LIFE AND STRESS REDUCTION IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients experience high levels of stress and anxiety. Previous studies have shown the beneficial effects of relaxation and associated therapies for people with MS. We recently demonstrated the beneficial effects of « meditative relaxation », an innovative, multimodal and reproducible mind-body practice using an altered state of consciousness, on doctors in a French hospital. Our aim is to study the effectiveness of such structured group relaxation intervention (based on a meditative approach) on improving quality of life, reducing stress and slowering disease progression in MS patients. To study the effects of a meditative relaxation program in MS patients, we designed a 12-month monocentric longitudinal clinical trial with three randomized groups of 40 participants: a meditative relaxation group (12 sessions), a standard care group, and a discussion group controlling for social interaction effects. Several outcomes will be compared before, immediately after, and six months after the intervention :
- the subjective benefits perceived by the patients based on Goal Atteinment Scale (GAS, primary outcome)
- subjective and physiologically measured stress
- quality of life based on surveys and
- MS disease progression based on MRI and annualized relapse rate in MS
This clinical trial aims to provide valuable data on the role of « meditative relaxation » as a non-pharmacological intervention to improve the quality of life of people with MS. If successful, it could pave the way for wider implementation of this intervention in the routine care of people with MS.