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Imagery Enhanced Cognitive Bias Modification for Chronic Worry

NCT03855488 · Status: SUSPENDED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 100

Last updated 2021-03-15

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

People who experience high levels of worry often have mental habits that fuel their worry. One mental habit of interest to researchers is the tendency to assess situations and experiences in a very negative way even when it is possible the situation may turn out to be neutral or even positive. Cognitive bias modification of interpretations (CBM-I) is a training that is designed to target the tendency to catastrophize and jump to negative conclusions when faced with ambiguous information. CBM-I has been shown to improve this habit as well as anxiety and low mood. In this experiment, the investigators are looking to enhance CBM-I for pathological worry. Specifically, the investigators are testing the immediate and short-term effects of using imagery when completing CBM-I.

Conditions

  • Excessive Worry

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Standard cognitive bias modification

Participants will be asked to repeatedly listen to descriptions of ambiguous scenarios that resolve positively and answer one question following each scenario that reinforces the positive interpretation; participants will listen to 60 scenarios/day for 7 days.

BEHAVIORAL

Imagery enhanced cognitive bias modification

Participants will be asked to imagine themselves as though they are actively involved in the scenarios that they listen to. This condition will be required to answer two questions following each scenario; one that reinforces the positive interpretation and another that promotes engagement with imagery. Participants will listen to 60 scenarios/day for 7 days.

BEHAVIORAL

Neutral Control Condition

Participants will be asked to listen to descriptions of neutral (i.e., non-emotional) scenarios. This condition will also be required to answer one comprehension question following each scenario. Participants will listen to 60 scenarios/day for 7 days.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, Ontario

    collaborator OTHER

  • Toronto Metropolitan University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-08-20
Primary Completion
2022-08-01
Completion
2022-08-01

Countries

  • Canada

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 NCT03855488 on ClinicalTrials.gov