Fondation Benoit

Cancer diagnosis generates a number of physical (pain, nausea and fatigue) and psychological implications for the patient. At the psychological level, there are high levels of emotional distress (anxiety and depression) and cognitive impairments such as memory, attentional and information processing deficits, that can undermine the quality of life. This last decade has shown great progress in cancer treatment allowing cancer patients, many of whom are of working age, to survive. Unfortunately, cancer diagnosis and treatment induce various symptoms necessitating the patient to interrupt or quit his occupational status. Hypnosis has been used in the past few years to treat these psychological and physical symptoms, be it at the moment of diagnosis, during and/or after the cancer treatments. A large amount of studies has shown a positive effect of hypnosis in cancer patients notably upon anxiety, emotional distress and fatigue, three factors that can negatively affect cognitive functions. The purpose of our study is to investigate the effect of a non-pharmacological treatment that combines self-hypnosis and self-care on well-being, cognitive complaints and return-to- work within a population of cancer patients. Our hypothesis is that, by reducing emotional distress and fatigue, self-hypnosis/self-care will reduce the cognitive difficulties of cancer patients, foster return-to-work, and eventually improve the patients' global quality of life.

Chronic pain concerns one in four adults in Belgium. Fibromyalgia is an example of chronic pain and is characterized by diffused and migrant musculo-tendinous pain localized in the limbs and at an axial level. The technological improvement in neuroimaging allowed to improve, at a cerebral level, the identification of the structural and the functional characteristics of this clinical entity. Studies indicated a modification in cerebral morphometry showing an alteration of white and grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal lateral cortex, cerebellum, basal ganglia, insula, secondary somatosensory cortex, thalamus, amygdala, putamen, superior temporal gyrus and periaqueductal grey matter. At a functional level, studies show un alteration in the connectivity of the default mode network, an atrophy of zones implicated in nociception and an increased activation of zone implicated in response to a nociceptive stimulus.
Nowadays, researchers are interested in finding out the beneficial effects of non-pharmacological techniques to improve de well-being of patients with chronic pain. Hypnosis is one of these techniques that has already proven to be successful in decreasing pain and improving global quality of life. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, no study has been conducted to understand the impact of hypnosis upon the cerebral functioning of these patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the impact of a 6 months self-hypnosis/self-care learning program upon the structural and functional functioning of the brain by means of functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG).