Reconsolidation and EMDR

University of Zurich160 enrolled

Overview

Blocking of reconsolidation by pharmacological or behavioral means offers the therapeutic possibility of weakening traumatic memories in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Two reconsolidation-based interventions, propranolol and extinction learning, have been shown to weaken fear memories in human healthy subjects. However, the success of these interventions seems to be limited to weak conditioned fear memories. This calls for new, potentially more efficacious, interventions to be tested. Bilateral eye movements seem to be a promising candidate intervention for blocking reconsolidation due to the compelling evidence of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing as effective treatment in PTSD. The investigators' aim is to test bilateral eye movements as an active reconsolidation-blocking intervention in an optimized differential fear conditioning procedure that the investigators have recently developed. This novel experimental assay creates stronger fear memories in healthy individuals.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

160

Conditions

PTSD

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 60 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Male or female between 18 years and 60 years of age * Presence of a manageable, nonphobic fear of spiders as determined by scores above the mean (male: 8.06; female: 10.46) on the German adapted Spider Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ; 38) and phobia criteria extracted from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Axis I Disorders (SCID-I; 39) * Signed Informed Consent after being informed Exclusion Criteria: * Current or past neurological or other medical condition affecting the brain * Current use of any medication (except contraceptives, herbal medicine) * Known or suspected non-compliance, drug or alcohol misuse * Presence of any current psychiatric disorders determined by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI; 40) * Inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g. due to language problems * No SC response to physical (Valsalva maneuver), psychological (mental arithmetic) and/or auditive (handclapping) stressor

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Skin conductance (SC) response

Time frame: Change from Day 1 (acquisition) fear conditioned SC response at day 3 (testing of renewal, reinstatement) and day 30 follow-up (testing of spontaneous recovery/renewal, savings)

Secondary Outcomes

Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response

Time frame: Change from Day 1 (acquisition) fear conditioned BOLD response at day 3 (testing of renewal, reinstatement) and day 30 follow-up (testing of spontaneous recovery/renewal, savings)