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Influencia circadiana en la terapia de exposición prolongada para el TEPT

9 de noviembre de 2026 actualizado por: Edward F. Pace-Schott, Massachusetts General Hospital

Influencia circadiana en la extinción del miedo resultante de la terapia de exposición prolongada para el TEPT

Proposed research will examine time-of-day effects on trauma-related fear extinction using Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) telemedicine for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD). The primary mechanistic outcome measure will be change in psychophysiological reactivity to script-driven imagery (SDI-PR) measured, in person, at pre-treatment, after 5 PE sessions (mid-treatment), and after all 10 PE sessions (post-treatment). A secondary mechanistic outcome will be session-to-session reduction in peak subjective units of distress (SUDS) ratings to imaginal exposures. The primary clinical outcome will be change in Clinican Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5) severity score; a secondary clinical outcome will be session-to-session reduction in self-reported PTSD symptoms using the PTSD checklist (PCL-5). Participants meeting inclusion criteria (described below) will be randomized to either PE sessions that begin from 07:00 to a time no later than 2 hours past a participant's customary rise time, or to the last treatment session of the day beginning at 16:00 or later (26 per arm). Participants will complete daily at-home imaginal-exposure homework within the same time frame as their PE sessions are scheduled, i.e., within 2 hours of awakening for morning (AM) group and between 16:00 and 2 hours before bedtime for late afternoon (PM) group.

Descripción general del estudio

Estado

Activo, no reclutando

Condiciones

Descripción detallada

Proposed research will examine time-of-day effects on trauma-related fear extinction using PE therapy for PTSD in the National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD). The primary mechanistic outcome measure will be change in SDI-PR; a secondary mechanistic outcome will be session-to-session reduction in peak SUDS ratings to imaginal exposures. The primary clinical outcome will be change in CAPS-5 severity score; a secondary clinical outcome will be session-to-session reduction in self-reported PTSD symptoms (PCL-5). Participants meeting inclusion criteria (described below) will be randomized to either PE sessions that begin from 07:00 to a time no later than 2 hours past a participant's customary rise time, or to the last treatment session of the day beginning at 16:00 or later. Participants will complete daily at-home imaginal-exposure homework within the same time frame as their PE sessions are scheduled (i.e., within 2 hours of awakening for morning group and between 16:00 and 2 hours before bedtime for late afternoon group). The assessment schedule will be identical for all participants. Participants who meet study inclusion criteria at screening will first begin a 7-day, pre-study sleep-monitoring period with wrist actigraphy, sleep diaries and completion of a diurnal profile of salivary cortisol levels. Trauma-related fear will be assessed using the standard SDI procedures detailed below at pre-treatment, after 5 PE sessions (mid-treatment), and after all 10 PE sessions (post-treatment). The CAPS-5 will be administered at these same times. PCL-5 measurements will be obtained at each treatment session and SUDs will be obtained during all treatment sessions that include imaginal exposure (sessions 3-8). All SDI sessions will be carried out at a standardized time of day in the late-afternoon (15:00-17:00). PE treatment will be administered at a targeted rate of once per week. At each PE and assessment session, pre-session saliva samples will be obtained for cortisol measurement and normalized using the diurnal profile of cortisol obtained during the sleep-assessment week. Participants will wear the wrist actigraph and complete sleep diaries throughout PE. The diurnal cortisol profile will be repeated at the post-treatment assessment.

Tipo de estudio

Intervencionista

Inscripción (Actual)

29

Fase

  • No aplica

Contactos y Ubicaciones

Esta sección proporciona los datos de contacto de quienes realizan el estudio e información sobre dónde se lleva a cabo este estudio.

Ubicaciones de estudio

    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, Estados Unidos, 02130-4817
        • VA Boston Healthcare System

Criterios de participación

Los investigadores buscan personas que se ajusten a una determinada descripción, denominada criterio de elegibilidad. Algunos ejemplos de estos criterios son el estado de salud general de una persona o tratamientos previos.

Criterio de elegibilidad

Edades elegibles para estudiar

18 años a 70 años (Adulto, Adulto Mayor)

Acepta Voluntarios Saludables

No

Géneros elegibles para el estudio

Todos

Descripción

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. a diagnosis of PTSD as defined by DSM-5, with a minimum CAPS severity score of 26, a minimum PCL-5 score of 31, or a score of 2 or above on CAPS-5 Item B2 (concerning distressing dreams)
  2. interest in starting a course of PE
  3. availability for appointments at that will either begin from 07:00 to a time no longer than 2 hours past their customary rise time, or to the last treatment session of the day beginning at 16:00 or later
  4. Age range of 18-70
  5. A Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) score above 25.
  6. Non-exclusionary psychotropic medications must have been stable for 3 weeks prior to Screening/Assessment with intention to remain stable throughout participation.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. current or past history of bipolar I disorder, schizophrenic or other psychotic disorders,
  2. current organic brain disorder including moderate to severe traumatic brain injury
  3. factitious disorder or malingering
  4. pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the next four months at time of screening [if a participant does become pregnant during study procedures, the situation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the participant's wishes will be considered in deciding whether the participant will continue with the study or withdraw.]
  5. current moderate or severe substance use disorder with symptoms present within the past three months
  6. diagnosed moderate to severe sleep apnea, narcolepsy, periodic limb movement, or restless legs syndrome that result in daytime sleepiness indicated by Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) above 10
  7. active risk of harm to self or others
  8. evidence of clinically significant hepatic or renal disease or any other acute or unstable medical condition that might interfere with safe conduct of the study
  9. current participation in trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (e.g., Cognitive Processing Therapy, Written Exposure Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy)
  10. prior treatment with an adequate dose of PE (i.e., 8 or more sessions) to the traumatic event that would be the index trauma for treatment in the study
  11. having no memory of their traumatic event
  12. daily use of benzodiazepines
  13. methadone or suboxone maintenance therapy for past opioid addiction
  14. diagnosis of Cushing's disease, Addison's disease or use of medications that target cortisol directly such as those used to treat Cushing's disease [ketoconazole, mitotane (Lysodren), metyrapone (Metopirone), and Mifepristone (Korlym, Mifeprex)], those used to treat Addison's disease [Hydrocortisone (Cortef), prednisone or methylprednisolone], as well as cortisone or dexamethasone.
  15. persons who would habitually awaken so early that more than 2 h would elapse before a morning PE session could occur; or those who engage in habitual shiftwork or transmeridian travel

Plan de estudios

Esta sección proporciona detalles del plan de estudio, incluido cómo está diseñado el estudio y qué mide el estudio.

¿Cómo está diseñado el estudio?

Detalles de diseño

  • Propósito principal: Tratamiento
  • Asignación: Aleatorizado
  • Modelo Intervencionista: Asignación paralela
  • Enmascaramiento: Doble

Armas e Intervenciones

Grupo de participantes/brazo
Intervención / Tratamiento
Experimental: Early morning PE

26 participants randomized to 10 weekly PE sessions in early morning (between 07:00-10:00) with homework exposures occurring occur at this same time of day.

Manualized procedures deliver ten 90-minute sessions targeted to occur weekly and administered via tele-health with the same study therapist. Session 1 will focus on psychoeducation. Session 2 involves construction of the in vivo exposure hierarchy. Sessions 3-10 focus on in-session imaginal exposures to the worst trauma memory for 45-60 min followed by 15-20 min of processing the imaginal exposure. For homework, participants will be instructed to confront situations on their hierarchy on a daily basis using recording of their imaginal exposure. Subjective Units of Distress (SUDS) ratings will be taken throughout imaginal exposure exercises.

Experimental: Late afternoon PE

26 participants randomized to 10 weekly PE sessions in late afternoon (16:00 or later) with homework exposures occurring occur at this same time of day.

Manualized procedures deliver ten 90-minute sessions targeted to occur weekly and administered via tele-health with the same study therapist. Session 1 will focus on psychoeducation. Session 2 involves construction of the in vivo exposure hierarchy. Sessions 3-10 focus on in-session imaginal exposures to the worst trauma memory for 45-60 min followed by 15-20 min of processing the imaginal exposure. For homework, participants will be instructed to confront situations on their hierarchy on a daily basis using recording of their imaginal exposure. Subjective Units of Distress (SUDS) ratings will be taken throughout imaginal exposure exercises.

¿Qué mide el estudio?

Medidas de resultado primarias

Medida de resultado
Medida Descripción
Periodo de tiempo
Psychophysiological Reactivity to Script-driven Imagery (SDI-PR): Primary Mechanistic Outcome
Periodo de tiempo: Outcome measure 1 assessed at pre-treatment (baseline), mid-treatment (week 5), and post-treatment (week 10).

This primary mechanistic outcome, measured before, midway and after treatment is a unitary discriminant canonical variable (SDI-PR) that measures psychophysiological reactivity while listening to 2 personalized recorded scripts that describe a participant's index trauma. For each of 3 physiological measures- heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC),and corrugator EMG (cEMG)- a response (R) score is calculated as the difference between the average level during a 30s pre-script baseline phase and the average level during a 30s imagery phase. These 3 scores are averaged across the 2 scripts and combined using standardized weights as: SDI-PR = 0.29*[HRR] +0.66*[SCR] +0.38*[cEMGR]. There is no absolute limit to how much physiological reactivity can increase in response to scripts, therefore, minimum and maximum scores do not exist. However, a proxy maximum and minimum SDI-PR was estimated using the largest and smallest SCR, HRR, and cEMGR in the study and are respectively, 35.041and -3.061.

Outcome measure 1 assessed at pre-treatment (baseline), mid-treatment (week 5), and post-treatment (week 10).
Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Fifth Edition (CAPS-5): Primary Clinical Outcome
Periodo de tiempo: Outcome measure 2 assessed at pre-treatment (baseline), mid-treatment (week 5), and post-treatment (week 10).

This primary clinical outcome is the gold standard clinical interview for assessing PTSD severity. In CAPS-5, each of the 20 symptoms of PTSD is rated on a 5-point severity scale ranging from 0 (absent) to 4 (extreme). Total scores range from 0 to 80.

Outcome measure 2 assessed at pre-treatment (baseline), mid-treatment (week 5), and post-treatment (week 10).

Medidas de resultado secundarias

Medida de resultado
Medida Descripción
Periodo de tiempo
PCL-5: PTSD Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Fifth Edition: Secondary Clinical Outcome
Periodo de tiempo: 10 weeks

PCL-5 contains self-ratings of how much one is bothered by each of the 20 symptoms of PTSD on a 5-point severity scale ranging from 0 (Not at all) to 4 (extremely). Outcome measure 3 is the total PTSD severity score summing all 20 items. The range of total scores for the PCL-5 is 0-80.

10 weeks
SUDS: Secondary Mechanistic Outcome
Periodo de tiempo: Starting at PE Session 3 when exposures begin

A rating scale from 0 to 100 where zero represents no distress at all and 100 represents very extreme distress, fear, or anxiety. SUDS ratings are subjective and different individuals may rate the same situation differently. An individual anchors their own ratings with personal recollection of situations considered "No Distress" to "Moderate" to "Extreme Distress".

Starting at PE Session 3 when exposures begin

Colaboradores e Investigadores

Aquí es donde encontrará personas y organizaciones involucradas en este estudio.

Investigadores

  • Investigador principal: Edward F Pace-Schott, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Investigador principal: Suzanne L Pineles, PhD, VA Boston Health System, Boston University

Publicaciones y enlaces útiles

La persona responsable de ingresar información sobre el estudio proporciona voluntariamente estas publicaciones. Estos pueden ser sobre cualquier cosa relacionada con el estudio.

Publicaciones Generales

Fechas de registro del estudio

Estas fechas rastrean el progreso del registro del estudio y los envíos de resultados resumidos a ClinicalTrials.gov. Los registros del estudio y los resultados informados son revisados ​​por la Biblioteca Nacional de Medicina (NLM) para asegurarse de que cumplan con los estándares de control de calidad específicos antes de publicarlos en el sitio web público.

Fechas importantes del estudio

Inicio del estudio (Actual)

1 de julio de 2022

Finalización primaria (Actual)

1 de agosto de 2025

Finalización del estudio (Estimado)

1 de septiembre de 2027

Fechas de registro del estudio

Enviado por primera vez

29 de junio de 2022

Primero enviado que cumplió con los criterios de control de calidad

6 de julio de 2022

Publicado por primera vez (Actual)

12 de julio de 2022

Actualizaciones de registros de estudio

Última actualización publicada (Actual)

12 de noviembre de 2026

Última actualización enviada que cumplió con los criterios de control de calidad

9 de noviembre de 2026

Última verificación

1 de noviembre de 2026

Más información

Términos relacionados con este estudio

Otros números de identificación del estudio

  • 2021p003356
  • R21MH128619 (Subvención/contrato del NIH de EE. UU.)

Plan de datos de participantes individuales (IPD)

¿Planea compartir datos de participantes individuales (IPD)?

SÍ

Descripción del plan IPD

We will share data every January 15 and July 15 with the NIMH Data Archives (NDA) under a NIMH Data Repositories Data Submission Agreement between NIMH and VA Boston Health System (VABHS). Data sharing is required for all NIMH-funded research projects. The NDA DSA will be approved by the VABHS IRB. Each participant will be assigned Global Unique ID (GUID) and data shared will contain no identifiable information. Shared data will include scored psychophysiological, self-report instruments, cortisol, actigraphy, and fully de-identified demographic data.

Marco de tiempo para compartir IPD

Study data will become available following the end of the study and the publication of results.

Criterios de acceso compartido de IPD

Investigators can apply to the NIMH Data Archive (NDA) for permission to use these data.

Tipo de información de apoyo para compartir IPD

  • PROTOCOLO DE ESTUDIO

Información sobre medicamentos y dispositivos, documentos del estudio

Estudia un producto farmacéutico regulado por la FDA de EE. UU.

No

Estudia un producto de dispositivo regulado por la FDA de EE. UU.

No

Esta información se obtuvo directamente del sitio web clinicaltrials.gov sin cambios. Si tiene alguna solicitud para cambiar, eliminar o actualizar los detalles de su estudio, comuníquese con register@clinicaltrials.gov. Tan pronto como se implemente un cambio en clinicaltrials.gov, también se actualizará automáticamente en nuestro sitio web. .

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