Reconsolidation and EMDR

Blocking Memory Reconsolidation by Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02572830

Enrollment

160

Registered

2015-10-09

Start date

2015-12-31

Completion date

2017-05-07

Last updated

2018-05-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

PTSD

Keywords

Reconsolidation, EMDR, PTSD

Brief summary

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.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALDelayed Bilateral Eye Movements

Bilateral Eye Movements followed by a 10 min delay after reactivation of fear-memory.

BEHAVIORALUndelayed Bilateral Eye Movement

Bilateral Eye Movements followed by no delay after reactivation of fear-memory. reactivation of the fear memory trace during which the reactivated memory is assumed to be in a labile state.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 60 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

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

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Skin conductance (SC) response	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

Measure	Time frame
Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response	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)

Countries

Switzerland

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026