Effects of Repeated Attachment Security Priming on Depressed Mood: a Clinical Study

Phase 1

• Conditions: Unipolar Depression
• Interventions: Other: Attachment security priming

• Registration Number: NCT01694030
• Lead Sponsor: University of Southampton

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to explore whether asking participants to visualise a secure attachment figure or a neutral event leads to differences in self-reported felt security or depressed mood. Furthermore, the investigators aim to explore whether it is possible to keep a secure prime activated over 3 days via text message visualisation tasks.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2012-09
• Study First Submitted: 2012-09-17
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-09-24
• Last Update Submitted: 2012-09-24
• Study First Posted: 2012-09-26
• Last Update Posted: 2012-09-26
• Study Start: 2012-11
• Primary Completion: 2014-12
• Study Completion: 2014-12

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

-Anxiety and depressive symptoms

Exclusion Criteria

-Bipolar disorder

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Neutral Condition	Attachment security priming	Participants in the neutral (control) condition of the attachment security priming experiment will be asked to spend time visualising neutral events (e.g., supermarket shopping)for 3-10 minutes at a time.
Secure condition	Attachment security priming	Participants in the attachment security priming condition will be asked to complete visualisation tasks where they think about a secure attachment figure for between 3 - 10 minutes.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depressed Mood 1	Depressed mood will be measured on day 7 of the study (immediately after lab primes)	Depressed mood will be measured using the depression and anxiety items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr, \& Droppleman, 1992), which equates to 24 items out of the original 65 on the POMS. Respondents use a 5-point Likert-type scale (0=Not at all, 4=Extremely) to rate the extent to which they have experienced various mood states over the past week. This questionnaire takes 5 minutes to complete.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depressed Mood 2	Depressed mood will be measured on day 7 of the study (after 3 days of text primes)	Depressed mood will be measured using the depression and anxiety items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr, \& Droppleman, 1992), which equates to 24 items out of the original 65 on the POMS. Respondents use a 5-point Likert-type scale (0=Not at all, 4=Extremely) to rate the extent to which they have experienced various mood states over the past week. This questionnaire takes 5 minutes to complete.
Felt Security 1	Felt security will be measured on day 7 of the study (after initial lab primes)	To find out whether the experimental manipulation was successful, participants will complete a 16-item measure of Felt Security (Luke, Carnelley, \& Sedikides, 2012). This scale consists of ten words relating to feelings of security, comfort and safety (e.g., loved, protected). Participants rate the extent to which the person or scenario in the visualisation task made them feel secure, by rating each item using a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=not at all, 6=very much). This measure takes 3 minutes to complete.
Depressed Mood 3	Depressed mood will be measured on day 11 of the study (24 hours after the last text prime).	Depressed mood will be measured using the depression and anxiety items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr, \& Droppleman, 1992), which equates to 24 items out of the original 65 on the POMS. Respondents use a 5-point Likert-type scale (0=Not at all, 4=Extremely) to rate the extent to which they have experienced various mood states over the past week. This questionnaire takes 5 minutes to complete.
Felt Security 2	Felt security will be measured on day 10 of the study (after 3 days of text primes)	Participants will complete a 16-item measure of Felt Security (Luke, Carnelley, \& Sedikides, 2012). This scale consists of ten words relating to feelings of security, comfort and safety (e.g., loved, protected). Participants rate the extent to which the person or scenario in the visualisation task made them feel secure, by rating each item using a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=not at all, 6=very much). This measure takes 3 minutes to complete.
Felt Security 3	Felt security will be measured on day 11 of the study (24 hours after last text prime)	To find out whether the experimental manipulation was successful, participants will complete a 16-item measure of Felt Security (Luke, Carnelley, \& Sedikides, 2012). This scale consists of ten words relating to feelings of security, comfort and safety (e.g., loved, protected). Participants rate the extent to which the person or scenario in the visualisation task made them feel secure, by rating each item using a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=not at all, 6=very much). This measure takes 3 minutes to complete.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

College Keep; 🇬🇧 Southampton, Hants, United Kingdom