Hypnosis for Fear of Falling in Older Adults

Fear of falling is associated with numerous negative health outcomes in older adults and can limit rehabilitation. Few treatments are effective in fear of falling. Hypnosis is now recognized as an effective treatment for a variety of conditions, especially anxiety and pain, which can be integrated safely with conventional medicine. Therefore, the objective was to assess the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial to examine whether hypnosis reduces fear of falling in an inpatient geriatric population. In this randomized pilot trial, patients hospitalized in geriatric rehabilitation wards were randomly allocated to either an intervention group (hypnosis plus usual rehabilitation program) or a control group (usual rehabilitation program only). Primary feasibility outcomes were recruitment rate, retention rate, and adherence to the intervention. Secondary outcomes concerned the impact of hypnosis in rehabilitation in fear of falling scores, functional scores, length of stay, and drugs.