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Brain Emotion Circuitry-Targeted Self-Monitoring and Regulation Therapy (BE-SMART)

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Mood Disorders
Interventions
Behavioral: BE-SMART
Registration Number
NCT03183388
Lead Sponsor
Yale University
Brief Summary

New treatments to help to reduce the emotional dysregulation of mood disorders are critically needed. This is a study of an emotional dysregulation psychotherapy treatment in which participants will learn skills to help to down-regulate maladaptive emotional responses and learn beneficial, healthy habits. Investigators will perform symptom and behavioral assessments and scanning prior to the treatment and will then repeat scanning, symptom and behavioral assessments at the midpoint, and after the psychotherapy is completed. This collected information will assess whether the treatment can improve functioning of emotion regulation brain circuitry.

Detailed Description

Aim: To use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), before, at mid point, and after an emotional regulation intervention, to assess intervention-associated changes in brain circuitry responses to emotional stimuli.

Hypothesis : The emotional regulation psychotherapy treatment will be associated with changes in emotional regulation circuitry.

At the time of registration, the primary outcome "Changes in Functioning of Emotional Brain Circuitry" was the only outcome registered. This outcome is comprised of multiple measurements and was split up individually at the time of results entry and the original primary outcome measure was deleted.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
76
Inclusion Criteria
  • participants meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria for BDI, BDII or BD Other Specified Bipolar (BD-OS).
  • participants with mood symptoms, such as Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Ham-D) score ≥ 15 and/or for hypomania/mild mania such as Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) ≥ 12.
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Exclusion Criteria
  • history of significant medical illness, particularly illness associated with possible changes in cerebral tissue or cerebrovasculature (e.g. hypertension)
  • history of neurologic abnormality, including significant head trauma (defined by loss of consciousness of ≥5-minutes duration), seizure disorder, cerebrovascular or neoplastic lesion, or neurodegenerative disorder.
  • contraindication to MRI scanning, e.g. presence of a ferromagnetic object, including orthodontic braces, or claustrophobia.
  • intelligence quotient (IQ) lower than 70
  • pregnancy
  • alcohol/substance use may be permitted if participant does not meet for DSM-5 current use disorder but will not be permitted for illicit substance use in the week prior to study.
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Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
BE-SMARTBE-SMARTPsychobehavioral intervention with focus either on teaching emotional regulation skills or regularizing daily sleep and activity levels.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
fMRI Functional Connectivity Changes in VPFC From an Amygdala Seed Region at Baseline and EndpointBaseline and 12 weeks

Pearson's correlations between the mean timecourse of the seed and the timecourse of each voxel between baseline and endpoint were compared at a voxel-level threshold of p\<0.001 uncorrected using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) software. If there were voxels above this threshold in the hypothesized region of interest (ventral prefrontal cortex), then the correlation values from those voxels in that region were extracted and Fisher transformed and averaged, where higher scores indicted greater connectivity. Functional connectivity differences between baseline and endpoint in regions of interest that survived the voxel-based threshold in participants who received either BE-SMART variation and had fMRI data of sufficient quality for fMRI functional connectivity analyses. The results of the mixed model analysis of those values are below.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Blood Oxygen-level Dependent (BOLD) Signal Changes in Left Amygdala at Baseline and at the End of the Interventionbaseline and 12 weeks

FMRI was performed during an emotional face processing task. Signal differences (BOLD changes) were compared between baseline and endpoint, separately for BE-SMART-DR or BE-SMART-ER, at a voxel-level threshold of p\<0.001 uncorrected using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) software. If voxels above this threshold survived in a hypothesized region of interest (amygdala and ventral prefrontal cortex, VPFC) then the signal differences in those voxels were extracted and mean values within the region for each subject were used in the analyses below. The only voxel-based finding meeting criteria was left amygdala activation decreases to fearful faces in participants receiving BE-SMART-DR. The results of the mixed model analysis of those values are below.

FMRI BOLD Signal Changes in Left Amygdala at Baseline and MidpointBaseline and 6 weeks

Signal differences (BOLD changes) between baseline and midpoint in regions of interest that survived the voxel-based threshold in participants who received either BE-SMART variation and had fMRI data of sufficient quality for fMRI activation analyses. The results of the mixed model analyses of those values are below.

fMRI Functional Connectivity Changes in VPFC From an Amygdala Seed Region at Baseline and MidpointBaseline and 6 weeks

Pearson's correlations between the mean timecourse of the seed and the timecourse of each voxel between baseline and midpoint were compared at a voxel-level threshold of p\<0.001 uncorrected using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) software. If there were voxels above this threshold in the hypothesized region of interest (ventral prefrontal cortex), then the correlation values from those voxels in that region were extracted and Fisher transformed and averaged where higher scores indicte greater connectivity. Functional connectivity differences between baseline and midpoint in regions of interest that survived the voxel-based threshold in participants who received either BE-SMART variation and had fMRI data of sufficient quality for fMRI functional connectivity analyses. The results of the mixed model analysis of those values are below.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Mood Disorders Research Program, Yale School of Medicine

🇺🇸

New Haven, Connecticut, United States

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