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Meditation for Emotional Numbing in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

NCT02163941 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2016-08-02

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

For individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the emotional numbing and isolation that are a core aspect of their suffering and consistently impedes remediation often remains after first-line treatments are administered. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing the empathy and social connectedness that will ultimately allow patients to flourish, and the search for target therapies is made more difficult by the fact that very little is known about the underlying physiology of emotional numbing and social isolation. The proposed study is designed to (1) investigate the hormonal, neural and immunological biomarkers related to emotional numbing, and (2) test whether cognitively-based compassion training (CBCT), an intervention designed and proven to enhance empathy, will reduce emotional numbing and increase empathy and social connectedness in veterans. To this end, thirty medically healthy males diagnosed with PTSD who continue to report emotional numbing symptoms after prolonged exposure therapy will receive 8 weeks of training in CBCT. Prior to, and again after the training, the investigators will assess patients' levels of oxytocin, inflammation, and self-reported emotional numbing and social connectedness. The investigators will also assess their neural response during a video task that assesses their ability to accurately read others' emotions. The investigators hypothesize that oxytocin, neural activity, and inflammation will predict social numbing, isolation, and empathy, and also that CBCT will positively impact the social outcomes that will pave the way toward health and well-being.

Conditions

  • Prolonged Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Compassion Training

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

    collaborator OTHER

  • Mind and Life Institute, Hadley, Massachusetts

    collaborator OTHER

  • Emory University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jennifer S Mascaro, PhD · Emory University

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
25 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
MALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2014-05-31
Primary Completion
2016-05-31
Completion
2016-05-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02163941 on ClinicalTrials.gov