Recruiting

Games

Sponsor:

University of Texas at Austin

Code:

NCT06129435

Conditions

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Trauma

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Visuospatial Task (VST)

Word Association Task (WAT)

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a visuospatial task on memory reconsolidation and trauma symptoms for trauma-exposed individuals after exposure to traumatic memory reactivation paradigm.

Conditions

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Trauma

Study ID

NCT06129435

Start date

Feb 23, 2024

Status verified date

Mar, 2024

Completion date

Aug 31, 2025

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Oct 31, 2024

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged 18 to 65
  • Fluent in written and spoken English
  • Has access to the internet
  • Access to a computer (laptop or desktop) with a camera that has video and audio recording capability
  • History of trauma exposure to either a motor vehicle (MVC), sexual assault, physical assault, or combat.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Insufficient emotional reactivity to the trauma memory reactivation video clip (<5 the Peak Subjective Units of Distress Scale)
  • Presence of significant suicidality or a history of a suicide attempt within the past 6 months
  • History of psychosis within the past 6 months
  • Changes in psychotropic medication (≤ 8 weeks)
  • Currently receiving trauma-focused psychotherapy

Study Design

Enrollment

120 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Visuospatial Task (VST)

sham comparator: Word Association Task (WAT)

no intervention: No Game Play (NT-CTRL)

Interventions

Visuospatial Task (VST)

Participants randomized to the VST condition will play a visuospatial game (i.e., Tetris). Participants will be given two minutes to practice Tetris and then will be instructed to play for 15 minutes without stopping.

Word Association Task (WAT)

Participants randomized to the WAT condition will play a word association game. Research staff members will read from a list of 300 words, not associated with trauma, to the participant. The participant will verbally respond to each word out loud with the first word that comes to their mind. This word association task will continue for 15 minutes or until all 300 words are read, whichever occurs first.

Primary outcome measure

  • Momentary Assessment of Distress Scale [ Time Frame: Change from Baseline to Two-week Follow-up ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Michael J Telch, PhD

(512) 560-4100telch@austin.utexas.edu

Estrella V Thomas, MA

‪(512) 766-9395‬utgamestudy@utexas.edu

Locations

The Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin

Recruiting

Austin, Texas, United States, 78712

Contacts

Michael J Telch, PhD

512-560-4100telch@austin.utexas.edu

Estrella V Thomas, MA

(512) 766-9395‬utgamestudy@utexas.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of Texas at Austin

Last update posted

Mar 5, 2024

Last verified

Mar, 2024

Keywords

  • PTSD
  • Trauma
  • Behavioral task
  • Memory reconsolidation
  • Memory disruptor

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 2024-03-05.