- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT04317820
Deep Brain Reorienting in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
December 1, 2023 updated by: Ruth Lanius, Lawson Health Research Institute
The Effects of Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
This study will evaluate the efficacy of a therapeutic treatment, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), for PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder).
Participants will be randomized to either the DBR treatment, or wait-list condition.
Study Overview
Status
Recruiting
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
This study will evaluate the efficacy of Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) in reducing PTSD symptoms.
DBR was designed by Dr. Frank Corrigan, a Scottish psychiatrist interested in the brain mechanisms underlying effective trauma psychotherapy.
For this study, participants will be randomized to either the DBR treatment or wait-list study conditions.
Trauma processing through DBR involves bringing up a traumatic memory and encourages the client to focus on tensions arising in the muscles of the shoulders, neck, head and face (i.e., those involved in orienting toward a threatening person/event).
It is believed that this approach will allow the participant to process the traumatic memory in an emotionally manageable way, changing how it is represented/accessed in the brain's innate defensive system.
Online Stream - Assessments will include clinical interviews (pre/post treatment, and follow-up) using Webex video conferencing, and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans (pre/post treatment).
In-Person Stream - Assessment will include clinical interviews (pre/post treatment and follow-up), and fMRI scans (pre/post treatment).
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Estimated)
124
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Contact
- Name: Suzy - Study Coordinator
- Phone Number: 35186 519-685-8500
- Email: Suzy.Southwell@lhsc.on.ca
Study Locations
-
-
Ontario
-
London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5A5
- Recruiting
- London Health Sciences Centre - University Hospital
-
Contact:
- Suzy -Study Coordinator
- Phone Number: 35186 519-685-8500
- Email: suzy.southwell@lhsc.on.ca
-
-
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
Ages Eligible for Study
18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- English speaking
- age: 18-65
- meets diagnostic criteria for PTSD (as determined by study assessment)
- may benefit from short-term trauma therapy (as determined by study assessment)
Exclusion Criteria:
- Individuals with any implants, conditions, etc. that do not comply with 7-Tesla (7T) fMRI research safety standards (e.g., certain implants, pregnancy)
- history of significant head injury/lengthy loss of consciousness (e.g., a Glasgow Coma Scale Score < 15 at the time of incident assessed retrospectively by participant)
- significant untreated medical illness
- history of neurological disorder
- history of any pervasive developmental disorder
- history of bipolar disorder
- history of psychotic disorder
- alcohol/substance abuse or dependence within the last 3 months
- extensive narcotic use
- current participation in counselling more extensive than supportive therapy (e.g., exposure therapy, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy would be an exclusion)
- a degree of mental distress that is unlikely to benefit from a short-term therapy (for our participants' well-being, it will be necessary that we believe it possible to safely address the issues/triggers brought up in treatment within the 8 sessions).
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: Single
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: DBR Condition
Involves 8 weekly sessions of DBR treatment.
|
Trauma processing through DBR involves bringing up a traumatic memory and encouraging the client to focus on tensions arising in the muscles of the shoulders, neck, head and face (i.e., those involved in orienting toward a threatening person/event).
The rationale is as follows: Physiologically, orienting to a stimulus, whether external or in the mind's eye, comes before any affective response to it.
Here, it is hypothesized that there is activity in certain midbrain structures , i.e.,Superior Colliculi (SC) and Periaqueductal Gray (PAG).
The deep layers of the SC bring on a brief (orienting) tension in the neck as well as preparing for eye movements, which is later followed by the processing of raw affect in the PAG.
In session, if we can attend to this tension - even if we have to backtrack from the emotion that follows - we can establish an anchor in the body that precedes the affect and is hypothesized to protect against emotional overwhelm.
|
No Intervention: Wait-list Condition
No intervention for approximately 8 weeks.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
change in PTSD symptoms from baseline as measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) at post-treatment assessment
Time Frame: 8 weeks
|
min.
CAPS score=0, max=80, with higher scores representing greater PTSD symptoms
|
8 weeks
|
change in PTSD symptoms from post-treatment assessment as measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) at follow-up assessment
Time Frame: 3 months
|
min.
CAPS score=0, max=80, with higher scores representing greater PTSD symptoms
|
3 months
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Ruth A Lanius, MD, PhD, Lawson Health Research Institute
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
- Corneil BD, Munoz DP, Chapman BB, Admans T, Cushing SL. Neuromuscular consequences of reflexive covert orienting. Nat Neurosci. 2008 Jan;11(1):13-5. doi: 10.1038/nn2023. Epub 2007 Dec 2.
- Lanius RA, Rabellino D, Boyd JE, Harricharan S, Frewen PA, McKinnon MC. The innate alarm system in PTSD: conscious and subconscious processing of threat. Curr Opin Psychol. 2017 Apr;14:109-115. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.11.006. Epub 2016 Nov 26.
- Terpou BA, Densmore M, Thome J, Frewen P, McKinnon MC, Lanius RA. The Innate Alarm System and Subliminal Threat Presentation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Neuroimaging of the Midbrain and Cerebellum. Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks). 2019 Feb 5;3:2470547018821496. doi: 10.1177/2470547018821496. eCollection 2019 Jan-Dec.
- Comoli E, Das Neves Favaro P, Vautrelle N, Leriche M, Overton PG, Redgrave P. Segregated anatomical input to sub-regions of the rodent superior colliculus associated with approach and defense. Front Neuroanat. 2012 Apr 3;6:9. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2012.00009. eCollection 2012.
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)
September 29, 2020
Primary Completion (Estimated)
September 1, 2024
Study Completion (Estimated)
September 1, 2024
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
March 18, 2020
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
March 20, 2020
First Posted (Actual)
March 23, 2020
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Estimated)
December 4, 2023
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
December 1, 2023
Last Verified
December 1, 2023
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- 8997
- 114501 (Other Identifier: Western University's Human Research Ethics)
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
No
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.
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