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Effect of Attentional Therapy on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

NCT05331534 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 140

Last updated 2025-08-24

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with an attentional bias towards negative stimuli, which is supposed to contribute to the development and the maintenance of the disorder. We recently showed using eye-tracking evidenced two types of AB towards negative stimuli: a "physiological AB" found both in healthy and individual with PTSD, characterized by a stronger initial attentional engagement towards negative stimuli compared to neutral stimuli, as revealed by longer first fixation duration dwell time on negative pictures than on neutral pictures; a "pathological bias" observed only in individuals with PTSD and characterized by an heightened sustained attention towards negative stimuli once detected, which further increases with prolonged exposure. The present study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of an eye-tracking assisted attentional bias reduction therapy, targeting specifically the pathological bias on the reduction of PTSD symptoms

Conditions

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Eye-tracking assisted attention control training (ACTo)

ACT is made of 8 sessions of a Dot-Probe Task (DPT). The DPT is a computerized task in which two visual stimuli (one emotional stimulus and one neutral stimulus) are displayed simultaneously on the left and right side of the screen. AB towards or away from emotional stimuli is respectively inferred by faster or slower responses to detect a probe replacing an emotional stimulus than a probe replacing a neutral stimulus. In the ACT therapy, the probe replaces the negative and neutral stimuli with equal frequency. ACTo will combine ACT with eye tracking methodology, allowing to directly record eye movements of the participants during the task. At each trial, images will be displayed for 2s and the negative image will be replaced by the neutral image (and vice versa) if the patient continues to explore the negative image beyond the first fixation, in order to block any additional attentional engagement.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention control training (ACT)

Patients will benefit from the ACT as described above; at each trial, images will remain on screen for 2s.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University Hospital, Lille

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Guillaume Vaiva, MD,PhD · University Hospital, Lille

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

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

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-02-02
Primary Completion
2028-02-02
Completion
2029-02-02

Countries

  • France

Study Locations

More Related Trials

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 NCT05331534 on ClinicalTrials.gov