EMDR in Spider Phobia: Work Mechanisms and Treatment Outcome

University of Regensburg (UR)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Spider Phobia

Treatments: Behavioral: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy; Behavioral: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02973919

URegensburg

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to increase the efficiency of exposure in virtual reality (VR).

Based on the EMDR research the investigators would like to show that the implementation of eye movements during the VR exposure results in a faster physiological relaxation response among probands with spider phobia, which has a positive effect on the subjective and behavioral efficacy of the VR exposure.

Full description

The VR paradigm consists of one room with a spider in it. The proband is supposed to look at it for a few minutes. This exposure is repeated several times.

In the experimental group a ball appears during the exposure, that moves horizontally across the room. The probands are supposed to follow this movement with their eyes.

EDA, EKG and respiration are being recorded. Furthermore the subjective and behavioral spider phobia is measured before, during and after the exposure to determine occurring changes.

Enrollment: 53 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID, First et al., 2002; applied German translation: Strukturiertes Klinisches Interview für DSM-IV, Achse I, SKID I, Wittchen et al., 1997), in order to get a reliable diagnosis of spider phobia

Exclusion criteria

• pregnancy
• current psychopharmacological medication
• current involvement in psychiatric- or psychotherapeutic treatment
• cardiovascular or neurological diseases
• color blindness
• hearing disorders

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

53 participants in 2 patient groups

Eye movements

Experimental group

Description:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy + virtual reality exposure therapy

Treatment:

Behavioral: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Behavioral: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

virtual reality exposure therapy

Treatment:

Behavioral: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy