Childhood Trauma and Escape Decision Dynamics (TEDDY)

University Hospital Bonn (UKB)

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Fear; Child Abuse

Treatments: Other: fMRI assessment of cognitive and reactive fear

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04290234

TEDDY

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of childhood maltreatment on cognitive and reactive fear.

Full description

Childhood maltreatment dramatically increases the risk for psychiatric disorders accompanied by profound difficulties in social interactions. However, it is still unclear how childhood maltreatment affects social interactions in adulthood. In this study, we examine how childhood maltreatment may modulate threat sensitivity assessed by the distance at which an individual flees from an approaching threat. While rapid escape decisions rely on "reactive fear" circuits, slower escape decisions are associated with "cognitive fear" circuits. Based on previous observations of altered early sensory processing, we expect that childhood maltreatment affects both cognitive and reactive fear circuits.

Enrollment: 80 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy subjects with varying levels of childhood maltreatment

Exclusion criteria

• current psychiatric illness
• current psychiatric medication or psychotherapy
• MRI contraindication (e.g. metal in body, claustrophobia)
• pregnancy

Trial design

80 participants in 1 patient group

Non-medicated healthy adults with childhood maltreatment

Description:

The 25-item retrospective Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) will be administered to assess history of abuse and neglect. The CTQ measures five types of maltreatment: emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect.

Treatment:

Other: fMRI assessment of cognitive and reactive fear