Exposure by Assessment: Effects of Daily AMQ-Based EMA of an Intrusive Trauma Memory in PTSD

June 14, 2026 updated by: Yair Bar-Haim, Tel Aviv University
Intrusive re-experiencing is a hallmak of PTSD. We apply ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of participant's trauma memory (active group) vs. EMA of a neutral memory (control group) to test whether the active intervention can reduce intrucive severity in PTSD and PTSD severity in general.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Intrusive re-experiencing is a defining burden for many people with PTSD, often disrupting routines and making it hard to participate in care. Intrusion symptoms tend to be resistant to change, even when broader PTSD symptoms improve (Bar-Haim et al., 2021; Levi et al., 2022). This pattern underscores the need for brief, remote approaches tuned to everyday intrusion dynamics.

We test a home-based intervention requiring minimal clinician input that aims to reduce intrusive symptoms. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) offers such opportunity. Although typically used for data collection, Pollmann et al. (2024) reported preliminary evidence suggesting that two weeks of EMA focused on a traumatic intrusive memory (TR-IM) were followed by reductions in intrusion symptoms, while other symptom clusters remained comparatively unchanged. Their prompts were adapted from the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (AMQ; Rubin et al., 2003). However, in the absence of a control arm, it remains uncertain whether the observed change reflects targeted, safe-context activation of the traumatic memory, a general cognitive-distancing effect from repeated ratings regardless of target, or a different process altogether. A further methodological limitation is that EMA completion depended on participants' spontaneous recollection of the TR-IM in the preceding hours. As a result, responses were intermittent and varied across days and individuals, leading to uneven exposure and data gaps.

The present study aims to tests the mechanism in question as well as creating a different setting in which all participants answer the questionnaire every time. Adults with PTSD who report active intrusions will be randomized to one of two otherwise identical 10-days EMA protocols: (1) daily AMQ-based prompts that explicitly target a personally identified TR-IM, or (2) the same prompts targeting a neutral, non-intrusive memory. Primary outcomes will be baseline to post-treatment change and baseline to follow-up change on clinician-rated CAPS-5 total score and CAPS-5 Cluster B indices. Secondary outcomes will be self-reported PCL-5 total score and cluster B scores .

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

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

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged 18-70 with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and intrusive symptoms.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychotic disorder or bipolar disorder; heavy use of drugs or alcohol; prominent personality disorders; significant risk of harm to self or others; current trauma-focused treatment; reporting intrusions as thoughts only rather than as memories.

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: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Sham Comparator: Neutral Memory
Participants allocated to this arm will complete AMQ-based ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) focused on an emotionally neutral memory identified at the beginning of the trial.
Other: AMQ-based ecological momentary assessment of an emotionally neutral memory
Participants allocated to this intervention will complete daily AMQ-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) prompts for 10 days, focused on a personally identified neutral, non-intrusive autobiographical memory. The target memory will be selected at the beginning of the trial. The EMA prompts will be otherwise identical to those administered in the intrusive-memory arm and will assess phenomenological and emotional characteristics of the selected memory. This control intervention is intended to distinguish the effects of repeated memory-focused assessment in general from effects specific to repeated assessment of an intrusive traumatic memory.
Active Comparator: Intrusive Memories
Participants allocated to this arm will complete AMQ-based ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) focused on an intrusive memory identified at the beginning of the trial.
Other: AMQ-based ecological momentary assessment of an intrusive memory
Participants allocated to this intervention will complete daily AMQ-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) prompts for 10 days, focused on a personally identified intrusive traumatic memory. The target memory will be selected at the beginning of the trial. The EMA prompts will assess phenomenological and emotional characteristics of the memory, including features related to vividness, emotional intensity, nowness/reliving, and intrusiveness. This intervention is intended to examine whether repeated, low-burden assessment of an intrusive traumatic memory by the participant would be associated with changes in PTSD symptom severity.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from Baseline in Clinician-Rated PTSD Symptom Severity as Assessed by the CAPS-5 Total Severity Score at Post-Intervention and Follow-Up
Time Frame: From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.
Clinician-rated PTSD symptom severity will be assessed using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) total severity score. Change from baseline will be evaluated at post-intervention and follow-up. Higher CAPS-5 total severity scores indicate greater PTSD symptom severity.
From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.
Change from Baseline in Clinician-Rated PTSD Intrusion Symptom Severity as Assessed by the CAPS-5 Cluster B Severity Score at Post-Intervention and Follow-Up
Time Frame: From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.
PTSD intrusion symptom severity will be assessed using the Cluster B severity score of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5). Cluster B includes clinician-rated symptoms of intrusive memories, distressing dreams, dissociative reactions/flashbacks, psychological distress at reminders, and physiological reactions to reminders. Change from baseline will be evaluated at post-intervention and follow-up. Higher CAPS-5 Cluster B scores indicate greater intrusion symptom severity.
From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from Baseline in Self-Reported PTSD Symptom Severity as Assessed by the PCL-5 Total Score at Post-Intervention and Follow-Up
Time Frame: From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.
Self-reported PTSD symptom severity will be assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) total score. The PCL-5 is a self-report measure assessing PTSD symptoms over the past specified time period. Change from baseline will be evaluated at post-intervention and follow-up. Higher PCL-5 total scores indicate greater PTSD symptom severity.
From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.
Change from Baseline in Self-Reported PTSD Intrusion Symptom Severity as Assessed by the PCL-5 Cluster B Score at Post-Intervention and Follow-Up
Time Frame: From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.
Self-reported PTSD intrusion symptom severity will be assessed using the Cluster B score of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Cluster B reflects intrusion symptoms, including intrusive memories, distressing dreams, dissociative reactions/flashbacks, emotional distress at reminders, and physical reactions at reminders. Change from baseline will be evaluated at post-intervention and follow-up. Higher PCL-5 Cluster B scores indicate greater self-reported intrusion symptom severity.
From baseline to post-intervention - 10 days; Follow-up data will be collected 15-30 days following the post-intervention assessment.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Tel Aviv University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Yair Bar Haim, Professor, Tel Aviv University

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)

June 14, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 14, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 14, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 14, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • EMA_Memories

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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