NCT03995186

Effects of Behavioural Activation on Emotional Cognition and Mood

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 97 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Oxford · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Behavioural activation (BA) is widely accepted as an efficacious treatment for depression. It has been suggested that several depression treatments work via early changes in emotional processing (e.g. affective bias in the processing of facial expressions) and that these could help predict treatment success, but it has not yet been examined whether the same applies in behavioural interventions. The investigators will examine how BA affects early emotional information processing in participants who are currently experiencing low mood, to see whether this can predict eventual changes in mood and to gain a better understanding of the treatment mechanisms of BA. Participants will be in three groups undergoing either behavioural activation, or activity monitoring alone (active control) for 4 weeks, or they will be on a waiting list (passive control). The investigators will also examine whether other factors, such as anxiety, social support and environmental reward, can predict the success of BA. This could help us understand how BA works and who may be most suitable for this intervention.

Conditions

• Depression
• Depressive Disorder
• Mood Disorders
• Cognition

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Behavioural activation	4-week programme based on the behavioural activation treatment provided in the NHS IAPT services. The programme includes psychoeducation on the relationship between activity and depression, examining the depressed person's level of activity, helping them identify activities they would like to increase and supporting them in the planning and conduct of those activities.
BEHAVIORAL	Activity monitoring	4-week programme where participants simply monitor their general daily activities in a diary.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-02-20
• Primary completion: 2021-09-30
• Completion: 2021-09-30
• First posted: 2019-06-21
• Last updated: 2023-05-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom