Prolonged Exposure and Oxytocin

April 26, 2018 updated by: Julianne Flanagan, Medical University of South Carolina

Augmenting Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD With Intranasal Oxytocin

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, debilitating anxiety disorder that may develop after direct or indirect exposure to traumatic events. Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy modality with a wealth of empirical support demonstrating its efficacy to treat PTSD in a variety of populations. The neuropeptide oxytocin is a promising new pharmacotherapeutic agent with prominent anxiolytic effects . Despite a strong biological and theoretical rationale for investigating the potential effectiveness of augmenting PE with intranasal oxytocin, no studies to date have done so. The current study aims to address this important gap in the literature by examining changes in PTSD symptoms following PE treatment combined with a) 40 IU of intranasal oxytocin or b) placebo.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
17

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 2

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Male or female; any race or ethnicity; age 18-75 years.
  2. Able to provide informed consent and function at an intellectual level sufficient to allow accurate completion of the assessment instruments.
  3. Participants must be able to comprehend English.
  4. Meet DSM-5 criteria for current PTSD (assessed via the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale; CAPS).
  5. A CAPS score of 50 or greater.
  6. Participants may also meet criteria for a mood disorder (except bipolar affective disorder, see Exclusion Criteria) or anxiety disorders (e.g., agoraphobia, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder). The inclusion of participants with affective and anxiety disorders is essential because of the marked frequency of the co-existence of mood and other anxiety disorders among patients with PTSD.
  7. Participants taking psychotropic medications will be required to be maintained on a stable dose for at least eight weeks before study initiation. Initiation or change of psychotropic medications during the course of the trial may interfere with interpretation of results.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Participants meeting DSM-5 criteria for a history of or current psychotic or bipolar affective disorders, or with current suicidal or homicidal ideation and intent. Those participants will be referred clinically.
  2. Participants who would present a serious suicide risk or who are likely to require hospitalization during the course of the study. Those participants will be referred clinically.
  3. Participants on maintenance anxiolytic, antidepressant, or mood stabilizing medications, which have been initiated during the past 8 weeks.
  4. Participants meeting DSM-5 criteria for a substance use disorder, except caffeine or nicotine, within the past 12 months.
  5. Pregnant women will be excluded from the proposed study.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Oxytocin
40 IU intranasal oxytocin spray
Drug: Oxytocin
40 IU oxytocin nasal spray, self-administered
Other Names:
  • Pitocin
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Placebo is matching saline nasal spray
Drug: Placebos
Saline nasal spray, self-administered

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PTSD Symptom Severity
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to end of treatment (10 weeks)
Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5). CAPS-5 scores range from 0-120. Items are summed to obtain a total score with higher scores reflective of greater symptom severity.
Change from Baseline to end of treatment (10 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PTSD Symptom Severity
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to end of treatment (10 weeks)
PTSD Checklist (PCL). The PCL is a self-report measure which uses a 5-point scale to assess the frequency and severity of PTSD symptoms. Item responses are summed to obtain a total score ranging from 17-85 with greater scores reflective of greater symptom severity.
Change from Baseline to end of treatment (10 weeks)
Depression Symptom Severity
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to end of treatment (10 weeks)
Beck Depression Inventory-II. The BDI-II is a self-report measure where each item is rated on a 0-3 scale and summed to obtain a total score. Greater scores are reflective of greater symptom severity.
Change from Baseline to end of treatment (10 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Medical University of South Carolina

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 31, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 31, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
April 3, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 31, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 3, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 25, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 26, 2018

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 36616

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on PTSD

Clinical Trials on Oxytocin

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings