NCT03460574

Targeting Cognitive Immunization in Depression

How Can Change of Dysfunctional Expectations in Major Depression be Enhanced? An Experimental Study Targeting Cognitive Immunization

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 135 (actual)
• Sponsor: Philipps University Marburg · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Research has shown that people suffering from MDD tend to maintain dysfunctional expectations despite experiences that disconfirm expectations. Recently, it has been shown that this persistence of expectations is due to maladaptive information processing involving "cognitive immunization". This experimental study aims at testing three different strategies to inhibit cognitive immunization, in order to enhance expectation change.

Detailed description

It appears adaptive to change one's expectations when continuously gaining expectation-disconfirming experiences; however, research has shown that people suffering from MDD have difficulty in changing their expectations after experiences that disconfirm expectations. Recently, the investigators have shown that this persistence of expectations is due to maladaptive information processing involving "cognitive immunization", defined as a cognitive reappraisal of expectation-disconfirming experiences in such a way that the individual's expectations are maintained. In view of psychotherapeutic interventions aiming to modify patients' dysfunctional expectations, effective strategies to inhibit cognitive immunization strategies need to be identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare different immunization-inhibiting strategies with regard to their effectivity in enhancing expectation change. For this purpose, the investigators use a standardized experimental paradigm, which was developed and validated in a previous study.

Conditions

• Major Depressive Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	INFORMATION	After receiving expectation-disconfirming positive performance feedback, participants receive standardized information that stresses the relevance of this experience. In particular, participants are told that the performance test they worked on is highly relevant for both professional success and personal life satisfaction.
BEHAVIORAL	SALIENCE	After receiving expectation-disconfirming positive performance feedback, partcipants in this condition are instructed to remember how well they performed on the performance test. Using a visual analogue scale, they were asked to specify how they performed relative to the other participants.
BEHAVIORAL	ATTENTION	Before working on the performance test, participants are instructed to pay attention to the feedback they receive. In particular, they are asked to enter what would be a personally good result for them. It is supposed that this shift of attention increases the salience of the expectation-disconfirming feedback.
BEHAVIORAL	CONTROL	This group does not receive any further intervention. Instead, participants of this group pass through the standard procedure of the EXPEC paradigm.

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-10-14
• Primary completion: 2018-04-30
• Completion: 2018-08-21
• First posted: 2018-03-09
• Last updated: 2018-08-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany