The Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Anxious Thinking Styles

NCT ID: NCT05798078

Last Updated: 2024-06-25

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

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

85 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-05-16

Study Completion Date

2024-05-31

Brief Summary

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This study aims to investigate whether reductions in negative interpretation biases, induced via an experimental manipulation (Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation; CBM-I), lead to reductions in symptoms of social anxiety amongst individuals experiencing high levels of social anxiety. The study further aims to investigate the relationship between multifaceted measures of interpretation bias, psychopathological symptoms, neurophysiological indices, behavioral indices of stress reactivity, and SAD symptoms.

To achieve these aims a sample of individuals experiencing high levels of social anxiety will be recruited. After completing multi-faceted measures of interpretation bias, including neurophysiological indices, participants will be randomized to complete an online one-week daily CBM-I or sham training control condition training schedule. Following the one week training, individuals will return to the lab to complete further multi-faceted measures of interpretation bias and social anxiety symptoms. One week after this (i.e. 2 weeks post-basline), participants will complete a final set of symptom and bias measures online.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Social Anxiety

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
Participants are blind as to whether they have been allocated to the active training condition or sham training condition.

Study Groups

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Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I)

Participants in this arm complete an initial introductory session of Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) in the lab followed by 6 sessions scheduled to be completed over the subsequent week (1 per day). CBM-I will be administered via an online platform using an individual login account.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The CBM-I intervention is based on the interpretation training paradigm developed by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000). It comprises a series of training scenarios describing different (mostly everyday) socially-relevant situations, structured so they start ambiguously but always have a positive ending. The positive ending is presented as word fragment, which participants are instructure to complete. In about 25% of trials, participants are further requested to respond to comprehension questions about the scenario presented. Each CBM-I session comprises 45 trials presented in 5 blocks of 9 scenarios.

Sham Training Control Condition

Participants in this arm complete an initial introductory session of the sham training control condition in the lab followed by 6 sessions scheduled to be completed over the subsequent week (1 per day). CBM-I will be administered via an online platform using an individual login account.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Sham Training Control Condition

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The sham training is in an identical format to the CBM-I training, except that the scenarios are all entirely neutral, with no reference to social situations and no emotional ambiguity.

Interventions

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Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I)

The CBM-I intervention is based on the interpretation training paradigm developed by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000). It comprises a series of training scenarios describing different (mostly everyday) socially-relevant situations, structured so they start ambiguously but always have a positive ending. The positive ending is presented as word fragment, which participants are instructure to complete. In about 25% of trials, participants are further requested to respond to comprehension questions about the scenario presented. Each CBM-I session comprises 45 trials presented in 5 blocks of 9 scenarios.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Sham Training Control Condition

The sham training is in an identical format to the CBM-I training, except that the scenarios are all entirely neutral, with no reference to social situations and no emotional ambiguity.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Provides informed consent
* Sufficient German language skills to complete the experimental tasks and questionnaires
* Aged between 18 and 65 years
* Scoring ≥ 52 on the SPAI-G (Turner et al., 1989; Fydrich, 2016), indicating elevated levels of social anxiety
* Lives within reasonable travelling distance of the research centre

Exclusion Criteria

* Current psychotherapeutic treatment or psychotherapeutic treatment completed within the last 6 months prior to study enrolment.
* Current substance misuse or dependency (apart from Nicotine)
* Acute suicidality or self-harm
* Symptoms of a psychotic or bipolar disorder
* Presence of a somatic condition that could systematically affect cortisol levels (in particular: Pregnancy and lactation, adrenal dysfunction, thyroid dysfunction, pituitary dysfunction)
* Presence of a somatic condition that could systematically affect brain physiology (current or anamnestic neurological disorders, in particular: anamnestic traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors)
* Presence of a somatic condition that could systematically affect peripheral physiological measures (in particular: cardiovascular diseases (e.g., cardiac arrhythmias, circulatory diseases \[e.g., hypertension\]))
* Sensitivity or alteration of skin surface providing contraindication for EEG or periphysiological measures (in particular: baldness, dreadlocks, open wounds on the head or facial surface, skin conditions that cause particular sensitivity to gels and creams)
* Intake of psychotropic medication that cannot be interrupted during study duration or change in psychotropic medication within the 8 weeks before starting the study (except: antidepressants in unaltered dosage)
* Left handedness
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Utrecht University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Osnabrueck

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Ruhr University of Bochum

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Marcella Woud

Junior Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Marcella L Woud, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Ruhr University of Bochum

Locations

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Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Ruhr University of Bochum

Bochum, , Germany

Site Status

Countries

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Germany

Other Identifiers

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582

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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