The Effect of Oxytocin on Fear Memory Consolidation Novel Intervention to Prevent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Mass General Brigham

Status

Completed

Conditions

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Treatments

Drug: Oxytocin

Drug: Placebo

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT01466127

2010P-002911

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to learn how differences in learning under mildly-stressful circumstances may be changed by taking oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone made naturally in the body. The investigators will also examine the impact of any anxiety, depression, and stress related symptoms on learning processes.

Enrollment

60 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 65 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Men or women 18 to 65 years of age
Score in study range on the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)
No current Axis I Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (DSM) excluded diagnoses as determined by the Structured Clinical Interview DSM (SCID) completed within the past 4 months.
Must be able and willing to understand study procedures and return to the clinic on two separate consecutive days for the fear-conditioning procedures.
Subjects must be able to give informed consent and be willing and able to comply with study procedures.

Exclusion criteria

Presence of a current DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis as measured by the SCID.
A serious medical condition or other condition deemed likely to result in surgery or hospitalization, or which would make participation in the study difficult.
Patients with a history of trauma resulting in head injury related seizures or with epilepsy (except a prior history of febrile seizures of infancy which are not exclusionary).
Use of supplemental hormones (birth control, estrogen, testosterone, prednisone, etc) or narcotics.
Pregnant or lactating women.
Women of childbearing potential not using medically accepted forms of contraception.
Current use of the excluded psychiatric medications.
Known hypersensitivity to oxytocin
Known hyponatremia.