[Exploding Head Syndrome Treated by Self-Hypnosis: A Case Report]

Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS) is a sensory parasomnia occurring at transitions between wakefulness and sleep, during which patients hear a loud, brief, and intense noise that awakens them. Reassurance is generally indicated, but there is no validated treatment for patients with frequent and disabling symptoms. We report the case of a man who developed EHS after discontinuing chronic cannabis use. Daily symptoms and the associated distress led to a relapse into use. In parallel, the patient learned Schultz autogenic training through an artificial intelligence tool. This training was undertaken with the aim of treating occasional sleep terrors, during which he would scream and awaken his wife at the beginning of the night (while he himself was amnestic of the events). The patient describes a specific evening during which the combination of autogenic training and high-THC cannabis appeared to abort the onset of an EHS episode. Specifically, he reports that a heightened trance state facilitated the generation of a specific formula that terminated the episode. Since then, the patient has continued to practice autogenic training daily and has had no recurrence of EHS. He ultimately succeeded in completely discontinuing cannabis. This case suggests that self-hypnosis could represent a promising non-pharmacological approach for patients with severe forms of EHS. The reported synergistic effect between self-hypnosis techniques and the use of psychoactive agents is intriguing but remains to be studied systematically.