Resolving Psychological Stress
Condition: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; Alcohol Use Disorder
MeSH terms: Alcoholism; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Alcohol Drinking; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Stress, Psychological
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The investigators have developed a mobile app called Resolving Psychological Stress (REPS) to
      help alleviate symptoms of PTSD. The app will administer threat-related attention bias
      modification to individuals who have both a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
      Disorders V (DSM-V) diagnosis of PTSD (and meet at least one DSM-V criteria for threat
      sensitivity) and a DSM-V diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder. The aims of the study are to
      explore both the feasibility and acceptability of the app with it's users, and to explore the
      efficacy of the app at alleviating PTSD severity.
    

Detailed description: 
      Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly disabling disorder that affects
      approximately 30 million people in the United States. New low-cost and accessible treatments
      for PTSD are desperately needed. Threat-related attention biases represent an important
      potential treatment target for PTSD. Such attention biases predict risk for PTSD following
      trauma exposure, and are thought to maintain symptoms of PTSD and other anxiety disorders.
      Research indicates that specific forms of computerized attention bias modification (ABM) are
      effective in reducing attention bias for threat as well as anxiety in patients with diverse
      anxiety disorders. The investigators have developed a mobile "app" called RePS (Resolving
      Psychological Stress) to administer threat-related ABM to patients with PTSD and Alcohol Use
      Disorder and have tested it in a laboratory-based pilot study of 19 people with PTSD.
      Preliminary data indicate that the app is highly acceptable to patients and that use of the
      app reduces attention bias for threat and PTSD symptom severity. The study aims are to
      examine the feasibility, acceptability and usability of app-based ABM; and determine the
      efficacy of app-based ABM in reducing attention bias and PTSD severity.
    

Intervention name(s): RePS (Resolving Psychological Stress) - Threat ABM Training; RePS (Resolving Psychological Stress) - Neutral Attention Training
Intervention type(s): Device; Device
Intervention description(s): This mobile "app" will aim to reduce neurobiological threat sensitivity with the ultimate goal of developing novel treatments for PTSD. The app can be used on an iPhone Operating System (iOS) compatible phone and involves a training program that aims to directly reduce threat sensitivity by modifying attention. The contents of the app will be the same for each user.; This app will be a placebo attention bias modification that will be used on an iOS compatible phone. The placebo will contain only neutral words.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Participants will be assigned to either a threat attention bias modification training or a neutral attention training.
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Attention Bias Modification; PTSD; Digital Health; Alcohol Use Disorder