Recruiting

Acrophobia TreatmentAnti-phobic and Safety Behaviors in the Treatment of Acrophobia

Sponsor:

University of Texas at Austin

Code:

NCT02085343

Conditions

Specific Phobia

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

EXP

EXP + SBF

EXP + SBF + AA

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study tests whether a single session of exposure therapy may be enhanced by the addition of anti-phobic actions beyond the mere fading of safety behaviors. A total of 100 acrophobic participants will be randomly assigned to receive standard exposure therapy (EXP), exposure therapy with safety behavior fading (EXP + SBF), exposure with safety behavior fading and anti-phobic actions (EXP + SBF + AA), or to a wait-list control group (WL).

Conditions

Specific Phobia

Study ID

NCT02085343

Start date

Feb, 2013

Status verified date

Nov, 2017

Completion date

May, 2018

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Mar, 2018

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 18 to 65.
2. Fluent in English (written and spoken). This is required because assessment instruments are validated only in English.
3. Meet DSM-IV criteria for specific phobia, natural environment type, with acrophobic concerns, based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-Auto; World Health Organization, 1997).
4. Report moderate fear or avoidance (i.e., a score of 30 or higher) on a modified version of the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ; Cohen, 1977).
5. Exhibit at least moderate fear (i.e., a fear score of 50 or higher, where 0 = no fear and 100 = extreme fear) during two behavioral approach tests (BATs) consisting of ascending two moderately challenging flights of stairs.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Medical condition(s) which may prevent safely climbing or descending stairs or walking for more than 15 minutes at a time (It will be necessary to walk to different sites for the behavioral approach tests).

Study Design

Enrollment

100 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Factorial

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: EXP + SBF + AA

Exposure therapy (EXP) with safety behavior fading (SBF) and anti-phobic action (AA)

active comparator: EXP + SBF

Exposure therapy (EXP) with safety behavior fading (SBF)

active comparator: EXP

Standard therapist-guided in vivo exposure therapy (EXP)

no intervention: Wait-list control

Subjects assigned to this arm will undergo assessments at Weeks 0, Week 1, and Week 5, but will not receive any interventions.

Interventions

EXP

EXP + SBF

Participants will receive one-session exposure therapy consisting of six-6 minute trials of exposure to heights, involving ascending a 9-landing flight of outdoor stairs. Participants will be asked to ascend, accompanied by the therapist who will provide verbal encouragement supporting efforts at exposure. An instructional set will be provided prior to treatment explaining how safety behaviors serve to maintain fear, and how their elimination may enhance fear reduction. Additionally, the therapist will identify safety behaviors and prompt participants to reduce their utilization of them during treatment.

EXP + SBF + AA

Participants will receive one-session exposure therapy consisting of six-6 minute trials of exposure to heights, involving ascending a 9-landing flight of outdoor stairs. Participants will be asked to ascend, accompanied by the therapist who will provide verbal encouragement supporting efforts at exposure. An instructional set will be provided explaining the rationale for eliminating safety behaviors, and how engagement in anti-phobic actions may enhance fear reduction. Additionally, the therapist will identify safety behaviors and prompt participants to reduce their utilization of them during treatment, and will instruct participants to enact a series of progressively challenging anti-phobic actions which oppose the prototypical fear response.

Primary outcome measure

Peak subjective fear (0 - 100) upon exposure to heights in the generalization context. [ Time Frame: Pre-treatment (1 week before treatment), treatment (1 week after pre-treatment), post-treatment (immediately following treatment), and follow-up (1 month after treatment). ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Adam R. Cobb, MA

325-201-4228 adamrcobb@utexas.edu

Michael J. Telch, PhD

512-471-3722 telch@austin.utexas.edu

Locations

The University of Texas at Austin

Recruiting

Austin, Texas, United States, 78712

Contacts

Michael J. Telch, PhD

512-404-9188 telch@austin.utexas.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of Texas at Austin

Last update posted

Nov 14, 2017

Last verified

Nov, 2017

Keywords

Exposure therapy
Specific phobia
Fear of heights
Acrophobia
Safety behavior fading
Anti-phobic Actions

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Texas at Austin on 2017-11-14.