Relapse Prevention in Alcohol Dependency by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Supported Cue Exposure Therapy
- 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
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- UNKNOWN
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 48
- Clinical diagnosis of an alcohol dependence (F10.2)
- abstinence motivation
- 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)
Related Research Topics
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Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen
🇩🇪Tuebingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen🇩🇪Tuebingen, Baden-Württemberg, GermanyAgnes Kroczek, Dipl.-Psych.Contact0049 7071 29Agnes.Kroczek@med.uni-tuebingen.deAnn-Christine Ehlis, PhDContact0049 7071 29Ann-Christine.Ehlis@med.uni-tuebingen.deAnn-Christine Ehlis, Dr.Principal Investigator