Recruiting

PTSD

Sponsor:

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Code:

NCT06218381

Conditions

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 50

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Very Brief Exposure to Combat Images

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to develop a new behavioral treatment for U.S. combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), very brief exposure to combat-related stimuli. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. How does Very Brief Exposure (combat images and control everyday images) and Visible Exposure to combat stimuli affect brain activity and subjective fear ratings?
2. To what extent are participants aware of the stimuli presented and tolerating the exposures?

All participants will view both very brief exposure and visible exposure to combat stimuli in the functional magnetic brain imaging (fMRI) scan. They will provide ratings of fear, awareness, and tolerability. Researchers will compare U.S. combat veterans with PTSD and healthy controls to confirm differences in brain region activation and ratings.

Conditions

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Study ID

NCT06218381

Start date

Mar 22, 2024

Status verified date

Jul, 2026

Completion date

Jul, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 50

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Patient Population

  • Males and females ages 18-50
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) diagnosis of PTSD
  • Traumatic event is a combat-based experience (e.g., being injured, watching a buddy be killed)
  • Minimum score of 18 on the Combat Experience Scale (CES)
  • Minimum score of 3 or more on Primary Care (PC)-PTSD-5
  • Participants with other cooccurring psychiatric disorders (e.g., anxiety, ADHD) will be included to ensure a representative sample.

Healthy Population

• Males and Females, ages 18-50

Exclusion Criteria:

Patient Population

  • Treatment for PTSD, substance abuse, or mental health concerns in the past 6 months
  • 10 or more years since the combat trauma
  • Acute intoxication
  • Severe level of Substance Dependence (6 or more DSM-V symptoms)
  • Prior diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorders
  • Current or past psychotic disorders or active psychotic symptoms
  • Current Bipolar I Disorder
  • Dementia
  • Neurological or serious medical conditions (e.g., stroke, epilepsy/ seizure disorder, cancer, Lupus, HIV+);
  • Traumatic brain injury

Healthy Population

  • Ferromagnetic implants (e.g., pacemaker), metal braces, retainers, tattoos or permanent make up w/ metallic content, transdermal medicinal patches that cannot be removed
  • Neurological or serious medical conditions (e.g., stroke, epilepsy/ seizure disorder, cancer, Lupus, HIV+);
  • Lifetime Diagnosis of PTSD, Tourette's Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder, Substance Dependence, Eating Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, a psychotic disorder, Acute Stress Disorder
  • Lifetime history of traumatic event defined as a life-threatening event involving physical attack, guns, fire or explosion (i.e the kinds of traumatic events combat veterans are likely to experience)
  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Birth at less than 37 weeks gestational age
  • Claustrophobia
  • Anxiety Disorder, Mood Disorder, Substance Abuse Disorder, Adjustment Disorder in past 2 years
  • Treatment for mental health concern in past 2 years
  • Pregnant Females

Study Design

Enrollment

90 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Image Exposure Arm

This within-subjects design study will have all participants view three types of exposure during fMRI scanning: VBE to combat images, VBE to masked everyday scenes (control), and conscious visible exposure to the same images (control).

Interventions

Very Brief Exposure to Combat Images

In VBE, a series of pictures representing a person's fears (e.g., a combat scene with arousing visuals) is presented very briefly (17 ms), followed by a masking stimulus that prevents conscious recognition of each picture. This sequence of picture-mask stimuli is repeated many times in an exposure session.

Primary outcome measure

  • Mean Activation of Frontostriatal and Prefrontal Brain Regions to combat stimuli in PTSD [ Time Frame: Day 2 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Courtney Marcelino

323-361-6456cmarcelino@chla.usc.edu

Bradley S Peterson, MD

323-361-3654bpeterson@chla.usc.edu

Locations

Brain Imaging Lab

Recruiting

Los Angeles, California, United States, 90027

Contacts

Courtney Marcelino

323-361-6456cmarcelino@chla.usc.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Last update posted

Jul 29, 2026

Last verified

Jul, 2026

Keywords

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Veteran
  • Very Brief Exposure

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Children's Hospital Los Angeles on 2026-07-29.