Anxiety & Depression Association of America

Social Support and Reduced Fear Acquisition

Purpose

University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to prevent the acquisition of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders. After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n =50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing fear acquisition procedures--the repeated pairing of a neutral image with a mild electric shock that ultimately leads to the association of threat of shock with the image--in the presence of an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) and an image of a smiling stranger.

Conditions

Fear
Anxiety

Eligibility

Eligible Ages: Between 18 Years and 55 Years
Eligible Genders: All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Inclusion Criteria

healthy adults 18 and 35 - fluent in English - no history of mental illness (healthy participants: including anxiety, depression, phobia, or any other mental health related disorder diagnosed by a mental health professional) - diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (anxious participants: allowed co-morbid disorders include depression, other anxiety disorders, and PTSD)

Exclusion Criteria

pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the experiment period - presence of chronic mental illness (healthy participants: as determined by the report of a past diagnosis of mental illness by a physician or psychologist and/or the prescription of medication related to mental health disorder; including anxiety, depression, phobia, or any other diagnosed psychological disorder) - presence of non-allowed co-morbid disorders (anxious participants: including, bipolar disorder, psychosis, substance use disorder, neurological disorder, and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder) - current and regular use of prescription medications related to mental health disorders

Study Design

Phase: N/A
Study Type: Interventional
Allocation: N/A
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Masking: None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

Arm	Description	Assigned Intervention
Experimental Social Support		Behavioral: Social support image An image of a social support figure specific to each participant (provided by the participant) will be present while participants undergo a fear acquisition procedure. Specifically--the image will be presented alongside a neutral image that is either consistently paired with shock (CS+) or never paired with shock (CS-), so that assessment of whether there are differences in fear responding (evaluated via SCR) due the shock pairing can be assessed. This is a typical fear acquisition procedure, and a typical outcome would be for SCR to be higher for the CS+ compared to the CS- toward the end and following the procedure, indicating that the CS+ is now associated with the aversive shock and is bringing about a fear response (in this case indexed by increased sympathetic nervous system activity preparing the body to fight or flee).

Recruiting Locations

More Details

Status: Recruiting
Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles

Study Contact

Erica Hornstein, PhD
9175664470
ericahornstein@ucla.edu

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.