Relapse Prevention in Alcohol Dependency by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Supported Cue Exposure Therapy

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Alcohol Dependency

• Registration Number: NCT02228486
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital Tuebingen

Brief Summary

Relapse is a major risk in substance abuse disorders, which is closely related to craving for a substance, describing a strong urge for consumption. Cue-exposure therapy is an intervention aiming at the reduction of perceived craving by repeated confrontation. It is based on the assumption that craving drops after repeated exposure without the reinforcing experience elicited by consumption. In the present study, patients with alcohol dependency take part in nine cue-exposure training sessions. Each session consists of mood induction reflecting a high risk situation with subsequent in vivo confrontation with one's preferred alcoholic beverage followed by the training of coping strategies. During the cue-exposure, patients focus on perceiving automatic responses to alcohol-related cues. We hypothesize that especially patients exhibiting initially high reactions to such cues should profit from this intervention the most. The reactions are measured on a subjective (craving) and physiological level (hemodynamics of the prefrontal cortex, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity). Furthermore, we want to strengthen the expected training effects during the cue-exposure by an activating transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which has been shown to be hypoactive in substance abuse disorders. We investigate how the cue-exposure training affects the processing of alcoholic cues (cue-reactivity) and its relation to clinical symptoms of alcohol dependency.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2014-08
• Study Start: 2014-08
• Study First Submitted: 2014-08-15
• Study First Submitted QC: 2014-08-26
• Last Update Submitted: 2014-08-26
• Study First Posted: 2014-08-29
• Last Update Posted: 2014-08-29
• Primary Completion: 2016-08
• Study Completion: 2016-08

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 48

Inclusion Criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of an alcohol dependence (F10.2)
• abstinence motivation

Exclusion Criteria

• epileptic seizures
• acute psychotic episode
• another substance use disorder besides nicotine dependency (F17.2)
• acute withdrawal symptoms

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
alcohol consumption days	six months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Maximum subjective alcohol craving during alcohol cue-exposure (10-point scale)	5 weeks	During alcohol cue-exposure, subjects rate the subjective craving regularly on a scale from 0 to 10.
subjective rating of self-efficacy (score on a 10 item-scale)	6 months	questionnaire (General Self-Efficacy Scale, Schwarzer \& Jerusalem, 1995)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen; 🇩🇪 Tuebingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany