Social Anxiety Virtual Reality Study

NCT ID: NCT04288180

Last Updated: 2021-10-08

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: TERMINATED
• Total Enrollment: 4 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-01-15
• Study Completion Date: 2020-02-28

Brief Summary

This project aims to validate a virtual reality paradigm that assesses maladaptive avoidance behavior in social anxiety disorder. It also aims to generate a significant scientific advance by testing the hypothesis that maladaptive avoidance maintains anxiety through disruptions in safety learning.

Detailed Description

Although occasional mild social anxiety is a common human experience, social anxiety disorder has a devastating impact on patients' lives, leaving them vulnerable to medical, psychiatric, and socioeconomic complications. A key feature of social anxiety disorder is avoidance of social and/or performance situations in which judgment and evaluation from others might occur. Reducing avoidance is therefore an important treatment goal.

Despite the importance of avoidance, however, it is very difficult to assess a patient's tendency to avoid. Many prior assessments of avoidance measure adaptive (i.e., helpful) avoidance, in which an individual learns to avoid a truly noxious stimulus. However, anxiety disorders are characterized by maladaptive avoidance, in which a relatively safe stimulus is avoided resulting in interference with the individual's goals. In this study, the first aim is to validate a virtual reality paradigm to measure maladaptive avoidance behavior in adults with social anxiety disorder. The second aim is to test whether maladaptive avoidance behavior relates to safety learning (measured by a fear extinction task).

Conditions

Social Anxiety Disorder

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: CASE_ONLY
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

Social Anxiety Disorder

A group of adults with social anxiety disorder will be recruited for a psychological/behavioral research study.

No intervention

Intervention Type: OTHER

There will be no intervention in this study. Adults with social anxiety disorder will complete research assessments related to fear and safety learning.

Interventions

No intervention

There will be no intervention in this study. Adults with social anxiety disorder will complete research assessments related to fear and safety learning.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• age 18+
• primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder
• fluent spoken and written English
• able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

• history of manic episode, hypomanic episode, or psychosis
• moderate or severe substance use disorder in the past 12 months
• current major depressive episode greater than moderate severity (PHQ-9 score >14)
• high risk for suicide (>8 on the MINI Suicidality section and/or clinician judgment that immediate medical attention is necessary)
• general medical condition or impediment to vision, hearing, or motor function likely to interfere with assessments
• benzodiazepine use in the past 2 weeks
• cannabis use for anxiety management in the past 2 weeks

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Stanford University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Tali Manber Ball, PhD

Instructor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Stanford University

Palo Alto, California, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

IRB-48367

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id