Tackling Depression and Anxiety: A Working Memory Intervention

NCT ID: NCT02119923

Last Updated: 2014-04-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 240 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2011-04-30
• Study Completion Date: 2011-10-31

Brief Summary

Anxiety and depression are both associated with impairments in executive functions, including working memory (WM) which is needed to maintain and manipulate goal-relevant information. Due to these WM impairments anxious and depressed individuals have difficulties inhibiting and shifting from irrelevant (negative) information and updating goal relevant information. This study explored whether training WM decreases these impairments and reduces clinical symptoms and rumination. Eighty-four individuals diagnosed with major depression and forty-nine individuals with an anxiety diagnosis executed WM or control tasks three times a week, during four weeks. Before, after training and at a two months follow-up measurement depression and anxiety symptoms, WM capacity and rumination behaviour were assessed. Training WM did only result in a reduction of anxiety symptoms in the depression group. These findings are inconsistent with promising results of individual studies showing training WM result in an enlarged WM capacity and a decrease of psychopathological symptoms. However, our results are in line with recent meta-analyses and reviews which show that WM training do not lead to generalized effects and therefore, doubt the clinical relevance of WM training programs.

Conditions

Major Depression; Anxiety Disorder

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Working memory training

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Working memory training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The WM consisted of two tasks; the Number-letter task (Rogers \& Monsell, 1995) and an Updating task. The Number-letter task trains the ability to shift between task relevant stimuli. Participants need to shift between four categories. In the Updating task participants receive a set of three words in which they have to compare the two consecutive words on emotional valence (positive or negative) to train their updating skills. Participants executed the training three times a week during four weeks.

Placebo training

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Placebo training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Both the WM and the placebo training consisted of two tasks; the Number-letter task (Rogers \& Monsell, 1995) and an Updating task. To prevent training WM the placebo training was a simplified version of the Number-letter task in which shifting was not required. In the Updating task the placebo group only had to count the number of positive or negative words. Participants executed the training three times a week during four weeks.

Interventions

Working memory training

The WM consisted of two tasks; the Number-letter task (Rogers \& Monsell, 1995) and an Updating task. The Number-letter task trains the ability to shift between task relevant stimuli. Participants need to shift between four categories. In the Updating task participants receive a set of three words in which they have to compare the two consecutive words on emotional valence (positive or negative) to train their updating skills. Participants executed the training three times a week during four weeks.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Placebo training

Both the WM and the placebo training consisted of two tasks; the Number-letter task (Rogers \& Monsell, 1995) and an Updating task. To prevent training WM the placebo training was a simplified version of the Number-letter task in which shifting was not required. In the Updating task the placebo group only had to count the number of positive or negative words. Participants executed the training three times a week during four weeks.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Major depression diagnosis
• Anxiety disorder diagnosis

Exclusion Criteria

• Current psychosis
• Current substance dependency

• Minimum Eligible Age: 16 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 68 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Erasmus Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Ingmar Franken

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Elke Geraerts, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Sabine Wanmaker, MSc

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Locations

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands

Countries

Netherlands

Other Identifiers

1

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id