Emotion Regulation and Emotion Perception (EREP)

Duke University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Emotions

Treatments: Behavioral: Habituation; Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Mindful Breathing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03790878

Pro00089935

1F31MH117830-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of a brief, emotion regulation intervention on the ability to perceive other people's emotions.

Full description

Decision to close enrollment was made on January 2, 2020.

Enrollment: 91 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. ages 18-55;
2. have a smartphone and agree to receive text-messages;
3. have difficulty with their relationships or social interactions;
4. high emotion dysregulation, assessed with the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)(Gratz & Roemer, 2004) with scores over 90.

Exclusion criteria

1. Current mania;
2. Meets full criteria for any current psychotic disorder;
3. Currently/chronically homeless;
4. Current suicidal ideation;
5. Psychiatric hospitalization within past 6 months;
6. Unable to read, blind or deaf. Our previous study recruited only participants who were currently in treatment, but this study will include both participants who are currently in treatment, as well as those who are not in treatment.
7. high self-reported autistic traits, as assessed by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (Auyeung & Baron-Cohen, 2012).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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91 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Mindful Breathing

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive training in a mindful breathing skill to regulate their emotional distress during a stressor task. They will then receive one week of reminders to use this skill, delivered through their mobile phones.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindful Breathing

Habituation

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants receive an exposure/habituation intervention to regulate their emotional distress during a stressor task. They will then receive one week of reminders, delivered through their mobile phones.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Habituation

Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants complete the stressor task with no emotion regulation training. Similar to the other conditions, they will then receive one week of reminders, delivered through their mobile phones to test for placebo effects.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control