None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This project aims to examine the efficacy, feasibility and acceptability, of an emotion-focused cognitive therapeutic intervention, Imagery Rescripting, in improving clinical symptoms for individuals with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). It is expected that a 10-week individualised Imagery Rescripting intervention will produce reductions in clinical symptom severity among individuals with a primary diagnosis of GAD. The research questions that this study seeks to address are: 1. Do individual participants with GAD report benefits of participation in Imagery Rescripting? 2. Is the intervention acceptable to clinicians and participants? 3. Are participants or clinicians likely to report any harms or adverse events associated with delivering Imagery Rescripting among individuals with GAD? 4. What types of mental images do participants with GAD describe during Imagery Rescripting, and how are these images thematically related to their current worries? 6. What are the estimated recruitment and retention rates during the intervention and follow-up periods?
Interventions
Participants will attend a 60-90 minute assessment session followed by an approximately 2-to-3 week baseline monitoring period.
Participants will then attend 10x 60-minute intervention sessions approximately weekly, occurring either online (via Zoom) or in person, dependant on participant preference. In these sessions, participants will engage in Imagery Rescripting intervention with a psychologist (Clinical Psychology Registrar).
Imagery rescripting procedures will be based on Arntz's Three
Participants will attend a 60-90 minute assessment session followed by an approximately 2-to-3 week baseline monitoring period. Participants will then attend 10x 60-minute intervention sessions approximately weekly, occurring either online (via Zoom) or in person, dependant on participant preference. In these sessions, participants will engage in Imagery Rescripting intervention with a psychologist (Clinical Psychology Registrar). Imagery rescripting procedures will be based on Arntz's Three Stage Protocol for rescripting early traumatic memories with adaptations to address worry. Sessions will involve identifying a current major worry, identifying an associated mental image, identifying an affectively-linked memory, engaging in rescripting of this memory (therapist-led and later participant-led), followed by reappraising the original worry and debriefing. Each session will include 1-2 imagery rescripting exercises. Adherence to the intervention will be monitored by a board-approved supervisor in clinical psychology who is accredited as a schema therapy supervisor viewing a random selection of recordings of the intervention sessions, and assessing and providing feedback regarding adherence to the study protocol and the competence of the psychologist's delivery based on relevant subsection of the Schema Therapy Competency Rating Scale (STCS-I-1). Participants will be asked to complete a range of questionnaire measures throughout the study and at 3-month follow up.
Sponsors
UNSW Sydney
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria for participants taking part in this study include: 1. Aged 18 years or older 2. Received a primary diagnosis of Generalised Anxiety Disorder 3. Willing and able to attend an assessment interview and 10 intervention sessions approximately weekly (1-hour each) with a psychologist, and to complete regular questionnaires (ranging between 2 and 30 minutes) 4. Understand spoken English
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria for those who are not eligible to participate in the study include: 1. Under the age of 18 2. Unable to experience mental images 3. Experience active and not adequately managed suicidal intent or planning, symptoms of psychosis, bipolar disorder, substance use, or a tendency to dissociation
Outcome results
None listed