TMS Augmented Exposure Therapy

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Phobia

Registration Number: NCT02223767

Lead Sponsor: Wuerzburg University Hospital

Brief Summary: This study investigates the beneficial effects of prefrontal brain stimulation (with a facilitating TMS protocol) before exposure therapy in acrophobic patients. The two exposure sessions were realized in virtual reality. Before and after therapy, the phobic symptoms were measured on a subjective, behavioral and physiological level. The placebo-controlled single blinded study includes 50 phobic patients, which were randomized into verum or sham TMS.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 47

Inclusion Criteria

Criteria for a simple phobia: specific heights

Exclusion Criteria

Objective tinnitus Involvement in psychiatric treatments Clinically relevant psychiatric comorbidity Clinically relevant unstable internal or neurological comorbidity History of or evidence of significant brain malformation or neoplasm, head injury Cerebral vascular events Neurodegenerative disorder affecting the brain or prior brain surgery Metal objects in and around body that can not be removed Pregnancy Alcohol or drug abuse history of seizures

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Subjective Anxiety Symptoms	4 weeks	Change in anxiety questionaire (Agoraphobia Questionaire (AQ), subscale anxiety) from pre (baseline) to post therapy (week 4). The range of the scale is from 0 to 120. Higher values indicate higher anxiety symptoms. For the calculated changes from pre to post this means, that more negative values indicate higher symptom reductions
Subjective Anxiety in Height Situation (BAT), Differences From Pre (Baseline) to Post Therapy (Week 4)	4 weeks	real life anxiety measurement by an behavioral approach test. Ratings on a 0-100 scale. Higher values indicate higher anxiety

Secondary Outcome Measures