NCT05292807

Imagery Rescripting and Imaginal Exposure for Anxiety Symptoms

Imagery Rescripting and Imaginal Exposure for Anxiety Symptoms: Mechanisms and Outcomes in a Large Analog Sample

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 460 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Hebrew University of Jerusalem · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 70 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study will recruit 460 participants who self-report high symptoms of anxiety. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of 4 groups: one analog intervention of Imagery Rescripting (IR) for memories, an analog intervention of IR for future events, and analog intervention of Imaginal Exposure (IE) for memories and an analog intervention of IE for future events. We will examine the efficacy and mechanisms behind each intervention.

Detailed description

After being informed about the study potential risks, all patients giving written informed consent will undergo screening to determine eligibility for study entry. They will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions (Imagery rescripting past; Imagery rescripting future; Imaginal exposure past; Imaginal exposure future) at a 1:1:1:1 ratio (n = 115 per group). Participant will be assigned using a variance minimization method that controls for between group variance in continuous and categorical variables- SPIN, ASI-3, OCI-R, GAD-7 and gender with a completely random assignment p random = .2 (for algorithm see Sella et al., 2018). Participants will attend three \~1.5 hour online ZOOM sessions (baseline-assessment and measurement, intervention, post assessment and measurement and follow-up measurement). In this multiple baseline study, participant will enter the intervention phase either 7 or 14 days after the baseline stage. Assessors will be blind to the treatment condition.

Conditions

• Social Anxiety
• Generalized Anxiety
• Obsessive-Compulsive Symptom
• Panic

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Imaginal exposure for memories	Participants in this arm will be asked to decide alongside with the intervention provider (a clinical PhD student or M.A student under the supervision of the principal investigator) to imagine a script based on a past distressing anxiety provoking scenario multiple times while honing in on the most negative aspects.
BEHAVIORAL	Imaginal exposure for future events	Participants in this arm will be asked to decide alongside with the intervention provider (a clinical PhD student or M.A student under the supervision of the principal investigator) to imagine a script based on a future distressing anxiety provoking scenario multiple times while honing in on the most negative aspects.
BEHAVIORAL	Imagery rescripting for memories	Participants in this arm will be asked to decide alongside with the intervention provider (a clinical PhD student or M.A student under the supervision of the principal investigator) to imagine a script based on a past distressing anxiety provoking scenarios one time while honing in on the most negative aspects. Afterwards they will insert changes into the script that try to help them cope in the imagery: First imagining the scenario from a different character perspective that enacts changes in the memories. Second, The will imagine the scenario again from the original perspective along with changes done by the additional character.
BEHAVIORAL	Imagery rescripting for future events	Participants in this arm will be asked to decide alongside with the intervention provider (a clinical PhD student or M.A student under the supervision of the principal investigator) to imagine a script based on a future distressing anxiety provoking scenarios one time while honing in on the most negative aspects. Afterwards they will insert changes into the script that try to help them cope in the imagery: First imagining the scenario from a different character perspective that enacts changes in the memories. Second, The will imagine the scenario again from the original perspective along with changes done by the additional character.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-04-14
• Primary completion: 2025-01-01
• Completion: 2025-01-01
• First posted: 2022-03-23
• Last updated: 2022-10-26

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Israel