Reward Processing and Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder

Part of paid clinical trials in Los Angeles, California.

Sponsor
University of California, Los Angeles
Study ID
NCT06776991
Status
Recruiting
Apply to this trial

Conditions

  • ANXIETY DISORDERS (or Anxiety and Phobic Neuroses)
  • Anhedonia
  • Phobic Disorders
  • Public Speaking Anxiety
  • Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 60 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Positive Affect Treatment - Behavioral (PAT-B) — BEHAVIORAL
    8 therapy sessions conducted individually with a therapist. Focuses on improving reward processing to increase positive emotional experience. Specific techniques include psychoeducation on mood cycle and positive emotions, mood monitoring, behavioral activation, and imaginal recounting and savoring of behavioral activation events. Intervention includes between-session practice.
  • Relaxation Treatment — BEHAVIORAL
    8 therapy sessions conducted individually with a therapist. Focuses on mindfulness and relaxation skills. Specific techniques include mindfulness approaches from dialectical behavior therapy, diaphragmatic breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. Intervention includes between-session practice.
  • Exposure Therapy — BEHAVIORAL
    8 therapy sessions conducted individually with a therapist using the inhibitory retrieval model of exposure therapy. Sessions are designed to include four exposures each (32 exposures total). Each exposure is a public speech delivered to an audience. Goal of this treatment is to reduce public speaking anxiety. Principles of exposure therapy that will be incorporated are maximizing prediction error, maintaining attention to the situation/stimuli that are perceived predictors of the feared outcome (e.g., social rejection), removing safety signals, variability, engaging in post-exposure rehearsal/consolidation, deepened extinction, and positive occasion setter extinction. Intervention does not include between-session practice.

Study Details

The investigators are conducting a clinical trial of therapy for public speaking anxiety. There are many eligibility criteria, but the main ones are that participants need to be socially anxious and have public speaking anxiety. In this clinical trial, all participants will do exposure therapy. Before doing exposure therapy in the study, though, participants will be randomized to do one of two treatments: i) a positive mood treatment, which is designed to increase how positive people feel, and ii) a relaxation treatment, which is designed to help people feel more relaxed. The investigators are doing this study to see whether doing the positive mood treatment or relaxation treatment first will affect how well exposure therapy works.

Key Dates

Start date
Sep 26, 2024
Status verified
Mar 2026
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2029
Completion
Apr 30, 2029

Study Design

Enrollment
94 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Positive Affect Treatment - Behavioral (PAT-B)
    Focused on improving reward processing and anhedonia using PAT-B. Expected to reduce negative affect and increase positive affect. Then, exposure therapy to reduce public speaking anxiety.
  • Active Comparator: Relaxation Treatment
    Focused on relaxation and mindfulness using Relaxation Treatment. Expected to reduce negative affect. Then, exposure therapy to reduce public speaking anxiety.

Primary Outcome Measure

Public Speaking Anxiety Scale (PSAS) [ Time Frame: Pre Tx (week 0), Post Tx-1 (after PAT-B or Relaxation Treatment) (~week 6), Post Tx-2 (after Exposure Therapy) (~week 12), 3-Month Follow-Up (~week 24). Also Sessions 2, 4, 6, 8 of each therapy (corresponding to ~weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10). ]

Central Contacts

Locations (2)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesCalifornia90024
Tomislav D Zbozinek, PhD
[email protected]
6027502348
University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesCalifornia90024
Tomislav D Zbozinek, PhD
[email protected]
310-206-9191

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