Splashing cold water on the face to reduce effects of trauma.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the effectiveness of splashing cold water on the face to reduce physiological and psychological effects of trauma induced anxiety and or depression.
IRAS ID
317498
Contact name
M Lal
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 0 days
Research summary
According to the Polyvagal theory (Porges, 2009), activating the vagas nerve can help to reduce symptoms related with trauma, anxiety and depression. This could help reduce the severity of responses in the patient group to improve their quality of life and inform current research which could lead to providing better care from services. Therefore, researching how the vagus nerve can be stimulated to reduce the negative symptoms that people experience associated with these diagnoses may offer the potential to relieve distress. Cold water exposure is hypothesised to activate the vagus nerve, decrease the sympathetic “fight or flight” response and increase parasympathetic activity, facilitating a calm response. This has not thus far been investigated with a focus on psychological functioning.
The main aims of the study are to identify whether splashing cold water to the face reduces trauma and anxiety related physiological and psychological symptoms and identify if there is a difference in results between diagnosis and control group. This will be a three-week intervention where the participant will splash cold water on their face every morning and when they experience distress. The study will include a pre and post questionnaire from Becks Anxiety Index and Becks Depression Inventory to see whether there are any changes in participants symptoms. The measures are scales based on four point Likert scales that measure anxiety and depression via a series of questions.
It is hypothesised that cold water will reduce distress and psychological and physiological symptoms related to trauma, anxiety, and depression. It is also predicted that the intervention group will show a reduction in distress and symptoms compared to the controlled group.
Should the results of the research support our hypothesis, this will help contribute to future research and current support given within mental health services.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0116
Date of REC Opinion
29 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion