TMS Augmented Exposure Therapy

Phobia Clinical Trial

— BEAT  

Official title:

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) for Treatment of Height Phobics

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02223767
• Other study ID #: Wuerzburg177/12
• Secondary ID: 098_MH
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: August 2014
• Est. completion date: October 2015

Study information

• Verified date: August 2023
• Source: Wuerzburg University Hospital
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study investigates the beneficial effects of prefrontal brain stimulation (with a facilitating TMS protocol) before exposure therapy in acrophobic patients. The two exposure sessions were realized in virtual reality. Before and after therapy, the phobic symptoms were measured on a subjective, behavioral and physiological level. The placebo-controlled single blinded study includes 50 phobic patients, which were randomized into verum or sham TMS.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 47
• Est. completion date: October 2015
• Est. primary completion date: April 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Criteria for a simple phobia: specific heights

Exclusion Criteria:

Objective tinnitus Involvement in psychiatric treatments Clinically relevant psychiatric comorbidity Clinically relevant unstable internal or neurological comorbidity History of or evidence of significant brain malformation or neoplasm, head injury Cerebral vascular events Neurodegenerative disorder affecting the brain or prior brain surgery Metal objects in and around body that can not be removed Pregnancy Alcohol or drug abuse history of seizures

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Phobia

Intervention

Device:
• Experimental: Verum TMS
Intensity of 100 % of the resting motor threshold with 10 Hz and intertrial interval (ITI) of 26 s. 1560 pulse in 40 trains at all . One train lasts 4 s.
• Experimental: Sham TMS
Sham stimulation with 10 Hz and ITI of 26 s. 1560 pulse in 40 trains at all . One train lasts 4 s.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	University hospital	Wuerzburg

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Wuerzburg University Hospital

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Subjective Anxiety Symptoms	Change in anxiety questionaire (Agoraphobia Questionaire (AQ), subscale anxiety) from pre (baseline) to post therapy (week 4). The range of the scale is from 0 to 120. Higher values indicate higher anxiety symptoms. For the calculated changes from pre to post this means, that more negative values indicate higher symptom reductions	4 weeks
Primary	Subjective Anxiety in Height Situation (BAT), Differences From Pre (Baseline) to Post Therapy (Week 4)	real life anxiety measurement by an behavioral approach test. Ratings on a 0-100 scale. Higher values indicate higher anxiety	4 weeks

External Links

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