Brief Enhanced Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment (Group)

Summary

One-third of the U.S. population experience anxiety disorders in their lifetime and only 25% of them seek treatment, reporting logistics and cost of treatment among the primary barriers. A potential way to prevent and treat multiple anxiety disorders is to target the risk factors that contribute to their etiology. One such well-researched risk factor is anxiety sensitivity (AS), a fear of anxiety-related sensations. Given a need for affordable and accessible brief treatments, we and our colleagues have been iteratively developing Brief Enhanced Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment (BEAST), a one-session virtual treatment targeting AS. Older versions of BEAST include psychoeducation, interoceptive exposure (IE), and IE homework. Several studies showed that the previous versions of BEAST reduced AS and, through the reductions in AS, they also reduced anxiety. However, the effect sizes for the decrease in anxiety were modest. Efficacy and personalization may be improved using Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI). EMI delivers brief interventions remotely in real-time and in natural settings. The goal of the current study is to test the efficacy of adding EMI to BEAST. Participants will be randomly assigned to EMI and control (no EMI) conditions. All participants will receive a virtual 1.5-hour-long intervention group session facilitated by a therapist. The EMI group will receive individualized intervention messages helping them to use new skills for two weeks after the session. After the two-week EMI period, all participants will complete post-treatment measures of AS and anxiety. A month later, they will complete a follow-up assessing AS and anxiety. The efficacy of the EMI component in reducing AS and anxiety will be tested using multilevel modeling. Improving the efficacy of BEAST, while keeping it brief, affordable, and accessible online, is an important step towards making it a treatment that may be used on a large scale.

Conditions

• Anxiety Sensitivity
• Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Brief Enhanced Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment (Group BEAST)

Group BEAST consists of a 1.5-hour-long intervention session, followed by a 2-week-long EMI. During the intervention session, participants will receive psychoeducation (e.g., defining common terms like anxiety and stress), discuss popular misconceptions they may have about anxiety symptoms, and complete exposure exercises (e.g., practicing facing feared physical sensations such as trembling or elevated heart rate). Homework exposure exercises will be completed by all participants. They will receive phone app reminders about completing homework. Only the EMI group will receive EMI prompts and intervention.

BEHAVIORAL

Control group Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment

Control group Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment consists of a 1.5-hour-long intervention session, followed by a 2-week-long EMI. During the intervention session, participants will receive psychoeducation (e.g., defining common terms like anxiety and stress), discuss popular misconceptions they may have about anxiety symptoms, and complete exposure exercises (e.g., practicing facing feared physical sensations such as trembling or elevated heart rate). Homework exposure exercises will be completed by all participants. They will receive phone app reminders about completing homework.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ohio University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-02-09

Primary Completion

2022-07-04

Completion

2022-07-04

Countries

• United States

Study Locations