The Effect of Attention Bias Modification Training on Reducing Depressive Symptoms

Hunan Normal University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depressive Symptoms

Treatments: Behavioral: a word dot-probe task for training procedure

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01628016

XJK011AXL002

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test whether attention bias modification training is an effective neurobehavioral therapy to improve depressive symptoms.That is whether attention bias modification training is superior to placebo in reducing depressive symptoms over 1 year after training.

Full description

Attentional bias has been theorized to play a critical role in the onset and maintenance of depression. Attentional bias modification training (ABMT), an experimental paradigm that uses training to induce adaptive attentional bias, was developed to test the causal model and this has therapeutic implications in depression.To test the effect of ABMT on treatment of depressive symptoms, a randomized, double-blind, placebo and blank controlled trial is conducted in college students who are experiencing mild-to-severe symptoms of depression.

Enrollment: 77 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 16+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• A score of 14 or higher on the Beck Depression Inventory-II

Exclusion criteria :

1. a current episode of MDD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or organic mental disorder;
2. any concurrent psychotherapy;
3. any concurrent psychotropic medication.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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77 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Attentional bias modification training

Experimental group

Description:

1. Attention bias modification training (ABMT) is a modified dot probe task, in which a probe always appears in the location of neutral stimulus after the two stimuli (i.e. one is the depressive cue and the other is neutral) were simultaneously presented. In the ABMT,the probability that a probe appears in the location of neutral is 90%, and correspondingly,in the location of depressive stimuli is 10%. 2. ABMT intervention: Participants complete 8 sessions of attention bias modification training (ABMT) during a two-week period. Each session consists of 218 trials, and the time to complete a training session is 12 minutes (4 sessions a week, roughly one session every other day with for each session).

Treatment:

Behavioral: a word dot-probe task for training procedure

Placebo training

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants complete 8 sessions of placebo training(PT) during a two-week period. Placebo training is a classic dot probe task, in which a probe appears after either of the locations that the two stimuli (i.e. one is the depressive cue and the other is neutral) were presented, with the same frequencies. In the PT condition, each session also consists of 218 trials, and the time to complete a PT session is approximately 10 minutes as well.

Treatment:

Behavioral: a word dot-probe task for training procedure

blank control

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants only complete assessment at each point time.