Perception of Stressful Social Stimuli After Trauma Exposure.

University Hospital Bonn (UKB)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Processing of social olfactory and tactile stimuli

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03421587

TT-Study

Details and patient eligibility

About

Post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with altered processing of sensory stimuli. The clinical phenotype PTSD has predominantly been described for the visual and auditory sensory modalities. However, PTSD symptoms such as intrusive memories are often evoked by olfactory and tactile cues in the environment. Moreover, little is known about whether aberrant responses to social olfactory and tactile stimuli are also present in a subclinical population.The purpose of this study is to compare trauma-exposed subjects (e.g. childhood maltreatment) with non-exposed controls in the processing of olfactory and tactile stimuli. This sensory characterizations hold potential to identify potential biomarkers for the course of trauma-related disorders and to inform trauma therapies focusing on sensory integration.

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Signed informed consent
• Subjects that have experienced a traumatic event that meets the DSM-5 criteria

Exclusion criteria

• Schizophrenia, schizoaffective or other psychotic disorder
• Neurological disorders
• Psychotropic medication
• Subjects suffering from a respiratory tract infection or other respiratory disorder known to affect olfactory functioning at investigator's discretion
• Subjects with anosmia or other previous primary olfactory dysfunction (olfactory threshold score using the "Sniffin' Sticks" ≤ 5)
• Dermatitis of the extremities or other skin disorders that affect the skin sensitivity of the extremities

Trial design

100 participants in 2 patient groups

Individuals exposed to an intentional/non-intentional trauma

Treatment:

Behavioral: Processing of social olfactory and tactile stimuli

Healthy controls without trauma-exposure

Treatment:

Behavioral: Processing of social olfactory and tactile stimuli