NCT03151681

The Trauma of Betrayal: Treating Adjustment Disorder With Reconsolidation Blockade Under Propranolol

Treating Adjustment Disorders Stemming From Romantic Betrayals: An Open-label Trial of Impairing Memory Reconsolidation Using Propranolol

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2 / Phase 3
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 84 (actual)
• Sponsor: Douglas Mental Health University Institute · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Attachment injuries are events occurring within couple relationships that involve betrayal or abandonment by a significant other during times of need (e.g., infidelity). They can be understood as relationship traumas, which can lead to debilitating symptoms consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and generalized anxiety for the injured partner. Research has demonstrated that the presence of an attachment injury represents a barrier to empirically effective couple's therapy. However, disrupting memory reconsolidation with the beta-blocker propranolol has been shown to alleviate PTSD symptoms by attenuating the salience of the emotional trauma memory, representing an interesting avenue for the treatment of adjustment disorders stemming from attachment injuries. Moreover, evidence suggests that a certain degree of mismatch, or an error between what is expected/predicted to occur and what actually occurs, must be present in order for a memory to destabilize and enter the reconsolidation phase following retrieval. Here, the investigators aim to extend the conditions under which reconsolidation therapy with propranolol can be used in a clinical setting, as well as assess whether incorporating mismatch enhances treatment effects. The investigators hypothesize that, compared to a wait-list control, 4-6 sessions of memory reactivation under propranolol will significantly reduce trauma-related and general anxio-depressive symptoms, associated with an attachment injury. Moreover, the investigators hypothesize that participants randomized to the mismatch group will improve significantly more than the standard treatment group on all variables of interest.

Conditions

• Adjustment Disorders
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Propranolol Pill	1mg/kg of propranolol 60 minutes prior to memory reactivation

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-11-01
• Primary completion: 2020-09-30
• Completion: 2022-06-06
• First posted: 2017-05-12
• Last updated: 2022-12-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada