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

Study Overview
=================
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.

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

Conditions
-----------------
Unipolar Depression

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Other: Attachment security priming


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: -Anxiety and depressive symptoms Exclusion Criteria: -Bipolar disorder

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
No

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Neutral Condition<br>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. | Other: Attachment security priming<br> <br> |
| Experimental: Secure condition<br>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. | Other: Attachment security priming<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Depressed Mood 1 | 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. | Depressed mood will be measured on day 7 of the study (immediately after lab primes) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Felt Security 1 | 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. | Felt security will be measured on day 7 of the study (after initial lab primes) | 
| Depressed Mood 2 | 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. | Depressed mood will be measured on day 7 of the study (after 3 days of text primes) | 
| Depressed Mood 3 | 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. | Depressed mood will be measured on day 11 of the study (24 hours after the last text prime). | 
| Felt Security 2 | 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 will be measured on day 10 of the study (after 3 days of text primes) | 
| Felt Security 3 | 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. | Felt security will be measured on day 11 of the study (24 hours after last text prime) | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
Attachment security priming, depressed mood