Learning to Resist the Urge: Inhibition Training in Abstinent Patients With Alcohol Use Disorders (INTRA)

University of Bern

Status: Completed

Conditions: Alcohol Dependence

Treatments: Behavioral: Alc-IT (75/25) (afternoon); Behavioral: Control-training (morning); Behavioral: Alc-IT (50/50) (morning); Behavioral: Alc-IT (75/25) (morning); Behavioral: Alc-IT (50/50) (afternoon); Behavioral: Control-training (afternoon)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02968537

INTRA-2016-00988

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study aims to investigate the effects of a short computerized training as a therapeutic add-on to standard therapy in patients with alcohol-use disorder.

Full description

Therapeutic interventions to treat alcohol use disorders (AUD) still need to be improved. A novel alcohol-specific inhibition-training seems to be a promising new intervention. In this study, recently abstinent patients with AUD attending an inpatient treatment program will be randomly assigned to one of two alcohol-specific inhibition-training groups (varying in Go/NoGo-ratio) or to a control condition. Besides the effects on drinking behavior, inhibition and implicit attitudes, the investigators expect the training to influence neurophysiological reactivity to alcohol related stimuli. A subgroup of patients will therefore additionally undergo EEG recording so that the neurophysiological effects of the training can be assessed and related to clinical outcome. Furthermore, since training effects rely on learning processes, the influence of endogenous cortisol level (a consolidation-enhancer which peaks in the morning) on training outcome will be examined by the variation of daytime of the training. All patients' inhibitory control and implicit associations towards alcohol will be measured before and after training. The training effects will be examined on proximal outcome variables (e.g. implicit associations, inhibitory control, abstinence related self-efficacy, craving) and on distal outcome variables at 3-, 6- and 12- months follow-up (e.g. percent abstinent days (primary outcome)).

Enrollment: 242 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 18 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Abstinent patients with an alcohol use disorder in the 12-week inpatient program of the Clinic Südhang or the Forel Clinic,
• Abstained from alcohol for at least 4 weeks (in relation to timepoint when training will start),
• Informed Consent as documented by signature.

Exclusion criteria

• Other main psychiatric diagnosis than alcohol use disorder (comorbidity is allowed if the alcohol use disorder is to be considered the main diagnosis),
• other severe substance use disorder (except nicotine), even as secondary diagnosis
• Neurocognitive problems (e.g. Korsakoff syndrome),
• Current medical conditions excluding participation (e.g. acute infectious disease),
• Inability to read and understand the participant's information,
• Enrolment of the investigator, his/her family members, employees and other dependent persons.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Quadruple Blind

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242 participants in 6 patient groups, including a placebo group

Alc-IT (50/50) (morning)

Experimental group

Description:

Alc-IT (50/50) (morning): This alcohol-specific inhibition-training (Alc-IT) training group will operate with a Go/NoGo ratio of 50/50 (Houben et al. 2011; 2012): This original version of the Alc-inhibition-training will include 80 alcoholic NoGo trials as well as 80 non-alcoholic Go trials. In order to arrive at the same training length while keeping the number of Alc-NoGo-pairings constant and the Go/NoGo-ratio at 50/50, it will additionally include 80 neutral Go-trials as well as 80 neutral NoGo-trials. It will thus consist of 320 trials and take about 10.5 minutes to be completed. In the morning group, this training will be administered within the first 2 hours after awakening.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Alc-IT (50/50) (morning)

Alc-IT (75/25) (morning)

Experimental group

Description:

This version of the alcohol-specific inhibition-training (Alc-IT) will operate with a Go/NoGo-ratio of 75/25. It will equally include 80 Alcoholic NoGo-trials and 80 non-alcoholic Go-trials, but now 160 neutral Go-trials will complete the set. This training will also consist of 320 trials and take about 10.5 minutes. In the morning group, this training will be administered within the first 2 hours after awakening.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Alc-IT (75/25) (morning)

Control-training (morning)

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

This group will receive an unspecific inhibition training. this training is of the same length and difficulty as the two Alc-inhibition-trainings. In the morning group, this training will be administered within the first 2 hours after awakening.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control-training (morning)

Alc-IT (50/50) (afternoon)

Experimental group

Description:

Alc-IT (50/50) (afternoon): As in the arm "Alc-IT (50/50) (morning)", this alcohol-specific inhibition-training (Alc-IT) group will operate with a Go/NoGo ratio of 50/50 (Houben et al. 2011; 2012): This original version of the Alc-inhibition-training will include 80 alcoholic NoGo trials as well as 80 non-alcoholic Go trials. In order to arrive at the same training length while keeping the number of Alc-NoGo-pairings constant and the Go/NoGo-ratio at 50/50, it will additionally include 80 neutral Go-trials as well as 80 neutral NoGo-trials. It will thus consist of 320 trials and take about 10.5 minutes to be completed. In contrast to the In the morning group, this afternoon group will receive the training in the afternoon.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Alc-IT (50/50) (afternoon)

Alc-IT (75/25) (afternoon)

Experimental group

Description:

As in the arm "Alc-IT (75/25) (morning)", this version of the alcohol-specific inhibition-training (Alc-IT) will operate with a Go/NoGo-ratio of 75/25. It will equally include 80 Alcoholic NoGo-trials and 80 non-alcoholic Go-trials, but now 160 neutral Go-trials will complete the set. This training will also consist of 320 trials and take about 10.5 minutes. In contrast to the In the morning group, this afternoon group will receive the training in the afternoon.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Alc-IT (75/25) (afternoon)

Control-training (afternoon)

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

As in the arm "Control-training (morning), this group will receive an unspecific inhibition training. This training is of the same length and difficulty as the two Alc-inhibition-trainings. In contrast to the In the morning group, this afternoon group will receive the training in the afternoon.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control-training (afternoon)