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A Digital Cognitive Intervention for Intrusive Memories After Trauma

NCT07523360 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 123

Last updated 2026-04-13

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Intrusive traumatic memories frequently trigger severe distress and psychological disorders like PTSD. Traditional therapies require explicit trauma recall, which often causes severe patient distress and leads to treatment avoidance. To address this, our study introduces a novel, less aversive intervention combining unconscious visual processing with bilateral eye movement to mitigate these intrusive memories.

Utilizing a randomized, three-arm design (comparing standardized trauma-related images, patient-provided images, and neutral images, all paired with bilateral eye movements), we plan to recruit participants who have experienced severe trauma and report ≥ 5 intrusive memories weekly, targeting a final sample of 40 patients per arm. The primary outcome is the frequency of intrusive memories. Secondary and additional outcomes include PTSD severity (CAPS-5, PCL-5, IES), depression, anxiety, borderline symptoms, functional improvements, subjective intervention distress, and dropout rates.

Conditions

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Intrusive Memories of Traumatic Event(s)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Pre-selected Trauma-related Cue Images with Eye Movement

After the baseline diary period, participants perform a continuous bilateral eye-movement task while being concurrently exposed to subliminally presented, masked pre-selected trauma-related cue images. This condition uses 8 pre-selected trauma-related cue images chosen by the research team to increase category-level cue coverage without requiring participants to provide their own trauma-related material.

BEHAVIORAL

Patient-provided Trauma-related Cue Images with Eye Movement

After the baseline diary period, participants provide 4 personalized trauma-related cue images. Participants then perform a continuous bilateral eye-movement task while being concurrently exposed to subliminally presented, masked personalized trauma-related cue images provided by themselves. This condition serves as a high-specificity anchor condition while reducing participant burden associated with providing larger numbers of trauma-related images.

BEHAVIORAL

Neutral Images with Eye Movement

After the baseline diary period, participants perform the same continuous bilateral eye-movement task while being concurrently exposed to subliminally presented, masked pre-selected neutral images unrelated to trauma. This condition uses 8 neutral images and serves as an active control for the general effects of visual stimulation and eye movements while minimizing trauma-related cue activation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Zhu Zijian

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

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

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-04-10
Primary Completion
2028-02-10
Completion
2028-05-10

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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 NCT07523360 on ClinicalTrials.gov