Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41909933›Full record

Trial reportPsychological medicine2026

Promoting relaxation through essential oil-enhanced digital hypnotherapy: A randomized controlled trial.

Steven Ngandeu Schepanski, Martin Bogdanski, Katja Karolina Siegfried, Steffen Schulz, Judith Czakert, Farid Kandil, Michael Teut, Julia Siewert, Georg Seifert

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Psychological medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Steven Ngandeu Schepanskihttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7695-1289
Martin Bogdanskihttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5662-0212
Katja Karolina Siegfriedhttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0009-0004-4325-346X
Steffen Schulzhttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-0847-6623
Judith Czakerthttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.
Farid Kandilhttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.
Michael TeutInstitute for Social Medicine & Epidemiology, https://ror.org/04839sh14Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane, Hochstrasse 15, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany.
Julia Siewerthttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Berlin, Germany.
Georg Seiferthttps://ror.org/001w7jn25Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCCTIM), Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7109-9277

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDigital interventions for promoting relaxation are increasingly popular, yet few combine multiple sensory modalities. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a fully digital relaxation program combining hypnotherapy with aromatherapy and explored whether the scent can induce a conditioned relaxation effect.

methodsIn this four-arm randomized controlled trial (

resultsAt post-intervention, both hypnotherapy-involved groups reported significant greater calmness than controls. The combined group showed a mean difference of

conclusionsDigital hypnotherapy improved relaxation, with modest added benefit from aromatherapy. The results support the use of multisensory digital tools to enhance subjective calmness. However, no evidence for conditioned effects of the scent was observed under the current conditions.

Indexed as

AromatherapyHypnosisOils, VolatileRelaxation TherapyAdultCombined Modality TherapyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedYoung AdultOils, Volatilearomatherapydigital hypnotherapyeHealthessential oilsmultisensory interventiononline mental health interventionrandomized controlled trialrelaxationsubjective calmness

Identifiers

PMID41909933
PMCPMC13079237

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.