F43.1
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: 80 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (participants of the studies: RELEASE and EUREALSE) will be examined and compared with regards to their psychopathology (especially concerning t
Williams & Broadbent).
Group 2: 30 healthy but traumatized control subjects (intervention as arm1). Participants also take part in the EURLEASE study (DRKS00006095).
Group 3: 30 healthy control subje
Sponsors
Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit Mannheim
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
Female
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Group 1: female; aged between 18 and 65 years; suffering from a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after childhood sexual or physical abuse before the age of 18 (sexual or physical abuse must be the index trauma); at least 3 criteria of a Borderline Personality Disorder (including criterion 6: affective instability). Group 2: female, aged between 18 and 65 years; childhood sexual or physical abuse before the age of 18. Group 3: female; aged between 18 and 65 years.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Group 1: diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder;mental retardation; severe psychopathology which needs to be treated immediately (e.g. BMI < 16); suicide attemt within the last 2 months. Group 2: diagnoses of Axis-I disorder; diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder; any taking of psychotropic drugs. Group 3: diagnoses of Axis-I disorder; diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder; any taking of psychotropic drugs; any traumatic experience; any psychotherapeutic experience
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Experimental investigation: One investigation of all participants regarding the above mentioned study. The time frame of the investigations is set until October 2016. In addition, PTSD patients will undergo the experimental study after therapy completion (DRKS00005578) again. Criteria: 1) Fear Conditioning (ability to discriminate between danger and safety cues): Subjects underwent a classical conditioning paradigm in which one of two stimuli is followed by an aversive event (danger cue), while a second one will be the conditioned safety cue. At the end of the fear acquisition phase, differential responses to the danger and safety cue are indicative for successful fear learning. Primary outcome variables comprise fear potentiated startle and online risk ratings. 2) Extent of learned fear conditioned generalization to similar perceptual cues: Subjects underwent a generalization testing phase: Both, the conditioned danger and safety cue, as well as eight additional stimuli creating a continuum of similarity between the danger and the safety cue are displayed (generalization stimuli). The extent of fear responding to the generalization stimuli is indicative for fear generalization. The higher fear responses are exhibited in response to less similar generalization stimuli, the stronger is the present fear generalization. Primary outcome variables comprise fear potentiated startle and online risk ratings. 3) Autobiographical memory specificity to positive and negative cue words: Participants will be exposed to 10 cue words (5 positive, 5 negative). They are instructed to remember a specific memory within a time limit of 2 minutes. A specific memory is characterized by the following information: exact time, place, is not allowed to last longer than a day. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Questionnaire: PTSD, as well as trauma controls fill in a generalization – questionnaire after the testing. In addition, PTSD patients will fill in the questionnaire after the second testing post therapy. | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactJanine Thome
Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit
Outcome results
None listed