Study of the Effect of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) of Nightmares

NCT ID: NCT00291031

Last Updated: 2013-10-17

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

PHASE1/PHASE2

Total Enrollment

112 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2006-02-28

Study Completion Date

2011-08-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether Imagery Rehearsal Therapy(IRT) is effective in the reduction of the number of nightmares and the nightmare distress in a population of patients with psychiatric disorders.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Within the normal population 4-8% of the people suffer regularly from nightmares. Clinical observations show that nightmares are a common problem for patients who suffer from all kinds of psychiatric disorders, and not just for the patients diagnosed with PTSD. Often nightmares can lead to sleep disorders, which have a negative impact on emotional well-being and cognitive functioning during the day. As well as this a strong relationship between severity of nightmares and severity of psychopathology has been found. This gives a strong argument for treatment of nightmares as a symptom, separate from the psychiatric disorder.

A few controlled studies of the treatment of nightmares have been published, in which behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, exposure and systematic desensitization have been studied, all of which have shown positive results. But these techniques do not seem to reduce the number of nightmares in patients who suffer from PTSD. These last few years more controlled studies of a cognitive behavioral technique called 'Imagery Rehearsal Therapy' (IRT) have been published. With IRT patients have to change the script of their nightmares into a different outcome, and rehearse this new script using cognitive imagery a few times a day.

Comparisons: treatment of nightmares with IRT compared to a waitlist control group who do not get IRT until 6 months later.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Nightmares Anxiety Disorders Mood Disorders Personality Disorders

Keywords

Explore important study keywords that can help with search, categorization, and topic discovery.

nightmare sleep disorder sleep imagery rehearsal anxiety disorders mood disorders personality disorders

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

IRT

Patients randomly assigned to the IRT condition receive Imagery Rehearsal Therapy after 4 weeks since the entrance into the trial next to their treatment as usual.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Imagery Rehearsal Therapy is given by psychologists, psychotherapists or psychiatrists. The IRT therapists are all trained by Annette van Schagen, principal investigator.

IRT consists of six 1-hour sessions. The six sessions are given in a period of three months. Each session is described in the IRT Manual. The IRT Manual is devised by the principal investigator Annette van Schagen in colaboration with Victor Spoormaker PhD. There is a patient version of the IRT manual available for the patients, which includes descriptions of the IRT sessions and homework assignments.

TAU

Patients that are randomly assigned to the waiting list control condition get treatment as usual (TAU) and complete the daily nightmare logs for a period of three months. These patients get the IRT intervention after waiting for 6 months.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT)

Imagery Rehearsal Therapy is given by psychologists, psychotherapists or psychiatrists. The IRT therapists are all trained by Annette van Schagen, principal investigator.

IRT consists of six 1-hour sessions. The six sessions are given in a period of three months. Each session is described in the IRT Manual. The IRT Manual is devised by the principal investigator Annette van Schagen in colaboration with Victor Spoormaker PhD. There is a patient version of the IRT manual available for the patients, which includes descriptions of the IRT sessions and homework assignments.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Discover alternative or legacy names that may be used to describe the listed interventions across different sources.

IRT

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Minimum of 3 nightmares per month
* Nightmares are associated with distress in daily life
* Subject wants to get treatment for the nightmares

Exclusion Criteria

* Imagery rehearsal therapy for nightmares in the past
* Psychotic disorders
* Acute psychiatric crisis
* Mentally challenged or neuropsychiatric syndrome
* Severe addiction problems
* Insufficient mastery of the Dutch language
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

Utrecht University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

GGZ Centraal

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Annette van Schagen

Clinical psychologist

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Annette M. van Schagen, MA

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

GGZ Centraal (previously Symfora groep)

Jan van den Bout, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Utrecht University

Victor I. Spoormaker, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry

Jaap Lancee, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of Amsterdam

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

GGZ Centraal, De Meregaard

Almere Stad, , Netherlands

Site Status

GGZ Centraal, Zon & Schild

Amersfoort, , Netherlands

Site Status

GGZ Centraal, De Rembrandthof

Hilversum, , Netherlands

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

Netherlands

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Krakow B, Hollifield M, Johnston L, Koss M, Schrader R, Warner TD, Tandberg D, Lauriello J, McBride L, Cutchen L, Cheng D, Emmons S, Germain A, Melendrez D, Sandoval D, Prince H. Imagery rehearsal therapy for chronic nightmares in sexual assault survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2001 Aug 1;286(5):537-45. doi: 10.1001/jama.286.5.537.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 11476655 (View on PubMed)

Spoormaker VI, Schredl M, van den Bout J. Nightmares: from anxiety symptom to sleep disorder. Sleep Med Rev. 2006 Feb;10(1):19-31. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2005.06.001. Epub 2005 Dec 27.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16377217 (View on PubMed)

Benca RM, Obermeyer WH, Thisted RA, Gillin JC. Sleep and psychiatric disorders. A meta-analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1992 Aug;49(8):651-68; discussion 669-70. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1992.01820080059010.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 1386215 (View on PubMed)

Blagrove M, Farmer L, Williams E. The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well-being. J Sleep Res. 2004 Jun;13(2):129-36. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2004.00394.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15175092 (View on PubMed)

Rothbaum BO, Mellman TA. Dreams and exposure therapy in PTSD. J Trauma Stress. 2001 Jul;14(3):481-90. doi: 10.1023/A:1011104521887.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 11534880 (View on PubMed)

Spoormaker VI, Verbeek I, van den Bout J, Klip EC. Initial validation of the SLEEP-50 questionnaire. Behav Sleep Med. 2005;3(4):227-46. doi: 10.1207/s15402010bsm0304_4.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16190812 (View on PubMed)

Strine TW, Chapman DP. Associations of frequent sleep insufficiency with health-related quality of life and health behaviors. Sleep Med. 2005 Jan;6(1):23-7. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2004.06.003.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15680291 (View on PubMed)

van de Willige G, Wiersma D, Nienhuis FJ, Jenner JA. Changes in quality of life in chronic psychiatric patients: a comparison between EuroQol (EQ-5D) and WHOQoL. Qual Life Res. 2005 Mar;14(2):441-51. doi: 10.1007/s11136-004-0689-y.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15892433 (View on PubMed)

van Schagen AM, Lancee J, de Groot IW, Spoormaker VI, van den Bout J. Imagery rehearsal therapy in addition to treatment as usual for patients with diverse psychiatric diagnoses suffering from nightmares: a randomized controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015 Sep;76(9):e1105-13. doi: 10.4088/JCP.14m09216.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 26455674 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

Access external resources that provide additional context or updates about the study.

http://www.nachtmerries.org/

A website with information on nightmares, and other sleep problems. Sponsored by Utrecht University and Fonds Psychische Gezondheid

http://www.symfora.nl

The website of Symfora groep, Centres for Mental Health Care

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

WO-SG-114NM

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id