Social Support and Enhanced Fear Extinction

NCT04565041 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: SSER21MH125274
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to enhance the extinction of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders. After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n = 50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study, with an expected recruited 150 to reach this number. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing a fear extinction procedure in which threatening cues--cues that predict electric shock--will be paired with either an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) or an image of a smiling stranger. These pairings will be presented repeatedly in the absence of shock in order for fear extinction to occur. Participants will return for a follow-up test to determine if fear extinction was successful.

Conditions

Fear; Anxiety

Keywords

social support; fear extinction

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Fear response directly post-extinction

  presence of fear response as indicated by significantly higher galvanic skin response (GSR: an index of peripheral stress responding) to a previously learned fearful image (CS+) compared to a baseline comparator (CS-: never learned to be fearful).

  within experimental session - directly post-extinction procedure

• Fear response 24 hours post-extinction

  presence of fear response as indicated by significantly higher galvanic skin response (GSR: an index of peripheral stress responding) to a previously learned fearful image (CS+) compared to a baseline comparator (CS-: never learned to be fearful).

  24 hours following the completion of fear extinction procedures

Study Arms (1)

Social Support

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Social Support

Interventions

Social Support BEHAVIORAL

Presence of an image of a social support figure (provided by participant) during a fear extinction procedure

Social Support

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 55 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• healthy adults 18 to 55
• fluent in English
• no history of mental illness (healthy participants: including anxiety, depression, phobia, or any other mental health related disorder diagnosed by a mental health professional)
• diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (anxious participants: allowed co-morbid disorders include depression, other anxiety disorders, and PTSD)

You may not qualify if:

• pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the experiment period
• presence of chronic mental illness (healthy participants: as determined by the report of a past diagnosis of mental illness by a physician or psychologist and/or the prescription of medication related to mental health disorder; including anxiety, depression, phobia, or any other diagnosed psychological disorder)
• presence of non-allowed co-morbid disorders (anxious participants: including, bipolar disorder, psychosis, substance use disorder, neurological disorder, and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder)
• current and regular use of prescription medications related to mental health disorders

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles: lead
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

UCLA Department of Psychology

Los Angeles, California, 90095-1563, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mental Disorders

Central Study Contacts

Erica Hornstein, PhD

CONTACT

9175664470; ericahornstien@ucla.edu

Naomi Eisenberger, PhD

CONTACT

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 10, 2020
• First Posted: September 25, 2020
• Study Start: February 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Last Updated: March 18, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Locations

US (1)