A Conditioning Paradigm to Increase Affinity for Sacredness of Life

Summary

Suicide-related experiences affect millions of people every year in the United States. Through decades of research, interventions targeting these experiences have developed with varied empirical support. Many of these treatments require regular attendance to in-person sessions with a trained behavioral health professional. Limitations of in-person services have led to the development of digital-based interventions, such as Therapeutic Evaluative Conditioning (TEC). TEC is based in evaluative conditioning principles and is a brief (1-2 minutes) digital intervention designed to increase aversion to self-injurious behaviors while decreasing aversion to the self through a match game-like task. Initial assessment of the intervention demonstrated promising results although treatment effects did not remain over time. Separately, sanctification, or the process through which aspects of life are perceived as having divine character and significance, can come from a theistic or nontheistic background and does not require a belief in a God or higher power to be experienced. When something is discovered as sacred, that sacredness becomes a priority for the individual, initiating motivation to conserve what is viewed as sacred. The primary aim of the current study is to develop and test the effectiveness of an adapted version of TEC designed to increase affinity for sacredness of life and increase the connection to life as mechanisms for decreasing suicide-related experiences. Results will provide insight into the perception of sacredness of life as a potential treatment target and are foundational work in a novel approach to address the public health priority of prevention and treatment of suicide-related experiences.

Conditions

• Suicidal Ideation
• Suicide, Attempted
• Suicide and Self-harm
• Non-suicidal Self-injury

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

TEC-Sacredness

The participant is asked to identify and select the correct match on each trial as quickly as possible. Match pairs (i.e., a self-related word paired with a life-related stimulus, a sacredness of life-related stimulus paired with a pleasant stimulus, and a neutral stimulus paired with a neutral stimulus) are first presented to the participant. A grid is then shown containing one of the match pairs along with distraction stimuli.

BEHAVIORAL

TEC-Control

The participant is asked to identify and select the correct match on each trial as quickly as possible. Match pairs (i.e., a neutral stimulus paired with a neutral stimulus) are first presented to the participant. A grid is then shown containing one of the match pairs along with distraction stimuli.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Military Suicide Research Consortium

  collaborator OTHER

• Florida State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Anna Gai, MS · Florida State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-05-11

Primary Completion

2022-07-14

Completion

2022-07-14

Countries

• United States

Study Locations