Anxiety, Adolescent Behavior
Conditions
Keywords
Attention, Anxiety, Adolescence
Brief summary
Adolescents with elevated anxiety have been found to direct their voluntary and involuntary attention more readily toward threatening stimuli, and spend more time dwelling upon that stimuli. Various computerised tasks have been developed to attempt to retrain these attention biases back away from threat. This study will test a newly developed intervention, that uses (eye-tracking) methods to track the gaze of the individual. This intervention is called Gaze-Contingent Music Reward Training (GC-MRT), and is designed to re-train the individual away from dwelling upon threatening stimuli (emotional faces), using their favourite music to re-infornce this learning.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALGaze-Contingent Music Reward Training
Participants will hear their selected music track playing, dependent on their gaze location, when viewing a grid on neutral and negative faces.
BEHAVIORALControl Training
Participants will hear their selected music track playing, regardless of their gaze location, when viewing a grid on neutral and negative faces.
Sponsors
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
King's College London
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
12 Years to 18 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* 12-18 years of age upon study commencement * Diagnosed generalised or social anxiety disorder (assessed by SCID) * Informed written and witnessed consent
Exclusion criteria
* Psychosis * Autism * Learning difficulties * Uncorrected abnormal vision * Current use of SSRIs
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in anxiety symtoms | Baseline and post-intervention (4 weeks), and at 3-month follow up. | Change in anxiety symptoms from baseline at 4-weeks on the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders (KSADS), and at 3-month follow up |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Self-report Anxiety | Baseline and post-intervention (4 weeks), and at 3-month follow up. | Change in self-report anxiety symptoms from baseline at 4-weeks on the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED), and at 3-month follow up. |
| Change in Dwell time on negative faces | Baseline and post-intervention (4 weeks), and at 3-month follow up. | Change in dwell time on negative faces, from baseline at 4-weeks, using eye-tracking measures on a free-viewing attention task, and at 3-month follow up. |
Countries
United Kingdom
Contacts
Primary ContactJennifer Lau
Backup ContactStephen Lisk
Outcome results
None listed