Targeting Components of Distress Tolerance

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Distress, Emotional

Treatments: Behavioral: Self-Efficacy; Behavioral: Willingness; Behavioral: Psychoeducation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06570603

1R15MH136626-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn which aspects of distress intolerance (i.e., difficulties withstanding upsetting emotional states) are the most important for improving effective emotion regulation and associated mental health symptoms.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

How are willingness to feel upset and self-efficacy for withstanding distress associated with different emotion regulation strategies used in daily life?

Does targeting willingness to feel upset and/or self-efficacy for withstanding distress help people use more effective emotion regulation strategies in daily life when they feel upset?

Are improvements in emotion regulation strategies in daily life associated with fewer symptoms of mental health problems over time?

Participants will:

Answer questions about their moods, willingness to feel upset, self-efficacy for withstanding distress and emotion regulation strategies for three weeks using a cell phone app

Undergo a willingness, self-efficacy, combined or psychoeducational control intervention in the lab

Be prompted to use the intervention skill via the cell phone app during the second week, after the intervention

Complete weekly reports of mental health symptoms

Enrollment: 240 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Fluent in English
• Uses Android or iPhone smartphone
• Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) scores of 42 and higher
• Distress Intolerance Index (DII) scores of 3 or higher

Exclusion criteria

• Work or School that does not allow consistent access to phone (or is unsafe)
• No internet access for completing follow-up surveys

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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240 participants in 4 patient groups, including a placebo group

Psychoeducational Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants will receive psychoeducation only

Treatment:

Behavioral: Psychoeducation

Self-Efficacy (Only)

Experimental group

Description:

Single session intervention focusing on increasing self-efficacy to manage distress. Will include brief psychoeducation about emotion, then a focus on agency and self-criticism, using stressors the participant provided from the previous week, with an aim to teach self-compassion skills that will improve self-efficacy.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Psychoeducation

Behavioral: Self-Efficacy

Willingness (Only)

Experimental group

Description:

Single session intervention focused on increasing willingness to allow distress. Will include brief psychoeducation about emotion, then a discussion of values and how allowing and experiencing emotions nourishes values, experiencing discomfort enhances growth. Will use stressors from the prior week as examples.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Psychoeducation

Behavioral: Willingness

Combined Willingness and Self-Efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Single session intervention focused on increasing both willingness and self-efficacy. Will include brief psychoeducation about emotion, then a combination of using values and self-compassion to increase both allowing and self-efficacy.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Psychoeducation

Behavioral: Willingness

Behavioral: Self-Efficacy