Targeted Memory Reactivation During REM Sleep in Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder

University Hospitals (UH)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Social Anxiety Disorder; Sleep

Treatments: Behavioral: Exposure Therapy and Targeted memory reactivation during REM sleep; Behavioral: Exposure Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05261659

2018-01335

Details and patient eligibility

About

With this study, the investigators aim to use sleep and dreaming in order to enhance exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder (SAD), by pairing the positive feedback phase of exposure (public talk) to an auditory stimulus during wake (associated sound) and subsequently applying this stimulus during sleep (targeted memory reactivation, TMR). Exposure therapy sessions will take place in a virtual reality (VR) environment, while physiological measures during the preparation phase of public talk such as heart rate variability (HRV), skin conductance response (SCR) and subjective level of anxiety (SUDS) will be used in order to assess treatment efficiency across the sessions. Patients with SAD according to DSM-5 criteria will be included.

The main hypothesis of this study is that participants who are presented with the associated sound during sleep (TMR group) will have reduced intensity of social anxiety compared to participants with no such association (control group), after both a full night's sleep with auditory stimulation during REM sleep in the laboratory, and after 1 week of stimulation during REM sleep at home. In addition, it is expected that fear-related dreams may correlate with anxiety levels during wakefulness after 1 week of stimulation at home.

Enrollment: 51 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 16 to 40 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients with social anxiety disorder (according to DSM-5 criteria and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale > 65)
• aged between 16 and 40 yo
• no current treatment for SAD (cognitive-behavioral therapy, medications)

Exclusion criteria

• mood disorder, psychosis,other anxiety disorder or other mental disorders according to DSM-5 criteria
• sleep disorder (e.g.,insomnia disorder, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, restless legs syndrome) according to DSM-5 criteria
• use of psychiatric medication
• current treatment for SAD (cognitive-behavioral therapy, medications)
• neurological disease

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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51 participants in 2 patient groups

TMR group

Experimental group

Description:

Patients will receive a sound while they receive a positive feedback for their performance of exposure therapy (ET). They will also receive the sound during REM sleep.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure Therapy and Targeted memory reactivation during REM sleep

Control group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients will not receive a sound while they receive a positive feedback for their performance of exposure therapy (ET). They will receive the same sound as the experimental group during REM sleep under the same conditions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure Therapy