Clinical trial NCT03773549: A Virtual Reality Study of Cognitive Biases in Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Official title: A Virtual Reality Study of Cognitive Biases in Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Body Dysmorphic Disorders
Healthy
Lead sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2018-12-12
Enrollment: 58
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Adults with either body dysmorphic disorder or no current psychiatric illness.

Brief summary: Previous research shows that individuals with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) misinterpret ambiguous social information in a negative and threatening manner. These erroneous threat appraisals are thought to maintain disorder symptomatology and psychosocial impairment by reinforcing individuals' distorted self-image and ideas of social undesirability. Thus, maladaptive interpretation biases represent an important treatment target for this population; however, existing bias assessments and modification protocols are limited by the hypothetical and distal nature of scenarios and do not capture momentary experiential threat processes. The proposed study seeks to test virtual reality (VR) technology as a novel, in vivo means of eliciting, identifying, and measuring threat interpretation biases in a clinical sample to better understand the fear/threat structure activated during social interactions in BDD. Findings have the potential to enhance our understanding of disorder maintenance and identify more nuanced treatment targets. This study represents a critical first step in the long-term goal of harnessing VR gaming technology to supercharge existing treatment approaches for this debilitating illness.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Age 18+,
* Fluent in English,
* Meet DSM-5 criteria for principal BDD (BDD group) or no other current psychiatric diagnosis (HC group; assessed via clinical interview).

Exclusion Criteria:

* Lifetime psychosis; current bipolar disorder in acute or hypomanic episode; current severe substance use disorder; acute, active suicidal ideation
* Intellectual disability or cognitive impairment that would interfere with participation

Primary outcomes:
measure: Reactivity/arousal of heart rate (HR) during during VR socially ambiguous scenarios
timeFrame: Day 1
measure: Reactivity/arousal of galvanic skin conductance (GSC) during VR socially ambiguous scenarios
timeFrame: Day 1
measure: Distress ratings
timeFrame: Day 1
measure: Social and appearance-related interpretation biases
timeFrame: Day 1
measure: In vivo interpretations
timeFrame: Day 1
measure: Correlation of interpretation bias measures
timeFrame: Day 1
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Exploratory investigation of acceptability and presence for future treatment using virtual reality methodology
timeFrame: Day 1
measure: Exploratory investigation for future treatment using virtual reality methodology using participant interpretations and feedback on the saliency of the different social contexts.
timeFrame: Day 1
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Massachusetts General Hospital
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital
name: Sabine Wilhelm, Ph.D
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: