Stress Sensitivity and Reward Responsivity in Depression

Completed

• Conditions: Depressed

• Registration Number: NCT02798094
• Lead Sponsor: Dr. Kate Harkness

Brief Summary

The goal of this project is to learn more about the different ways in which people process information that is stressful and rewarding, and how abnormalities in these two processes are related to depression.

Detailed Description

Participants will participate in two 3-hour sessions separated by a week at Providence Care, Mental Health Services, and a third, 1.5-hour session at the Queen's MRI Facility. At the first session participants will complete a packet of questionnaires about their mood and take part in an interview about their mood, medications, drug use, and any other symptoms, as well as an interview about their relationships with their parents and any experiences of abuse. At the second session participants will participate in a stress test, which involves giving a speech to a panel. The investigators will also collect saliva samples to look at stress hormones. Participants will also complete a task on the computer that involves looking at cartoon faces and making decisions about them. At the third session, the investigators take images of of participant's brain using a magnetic resonance scanner.

Participants are invited to participate in a 6-month follow-up for this study, which would involve the same procedure as outline above.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2015-07
• Study First Submitted: 2016-05-13
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-06-13
• Study First Posted: 2016-06-14
• Primary Completion: 2018-12-31
• Study Completion: 2018-12-31
• Status Verified: 2019-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2019-08-26
• Last Update Posted: 2019-08-28

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 219

Inclusion Criteria

• Outpatients aged 18-65
• Currently suffering from unipolar depression
• Fluency in English, sufficient to complete the interviews and self-report questionnaires

Exclusion Criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, current alcohol/substance dependence, or significant medical comorbidity
• Treatment-resistant (defined as failing more than 3 trials of anti-depressant medication)
• History of neurological insult (e.g., concussion), neurological disease, seizure disorder
• Smokers
• Pregnant women
• Endocrine disorders
• High suicidal risk, defined by clinician judgement

For Healthy Control Participants:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults aged 18-65
• No history of Axis I disorders according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, as determined by the SCID
• No first-degree relatives diagnosed with bipolar disorder
• Fluency in English, sufficient to complete the interviews and self-report questionnaires

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of neurological insult (e.g., concussion), neurological disease, seizure disorder
• Smokers
• Pregnant women
• Endocrine disorders

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Stress Sensitivity: Salivary Hormone and Stress Challenge Test (TSST)	2 hours after beginning of Time B Appointment	Participants are required to give a speech and an arithmetic test in front of a panel. Saliva samples are collected at 8 points throughout the test.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ)	Administered at first baseline appointment and covers past 2 weeks	Self-report scale of general distress (GD), anhedonic depression (AD), and anxious arousal (AA) symptoms
Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS and SHAPS-C)	Administered at first baseline appointment and covers past 2 weeks prior to interview	Self-report of anhedonia symptoms
Reward Responsivity: Probabilistic Reward Task	Administered at second baseline appointment	Computerized task that requires participants to choose between two stimuli and develop a response bias to the more frequently rewarded stimulus.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Queen's University; 🇨🇦 Kingston, Ontario, Canada