Attention Bias Modification Treatment for Young Adults With Major Depressive Disorder

In this study, the investigators test whether a 4-week 12-session attention bias modification treatment (ABMT) could reduce depressive symptoms relative to placebo controls in young adults with major depressive disorder at post-training and 3-month follow-ups. Meanwhile, the investigators also test whether a 2-week 4-session ABMT booster training for every three months could reduce residual depressive symptoms and recurrences relative to placebo controls for 1-year follow-up

Attention Bias Modification Training was a modified dot-probe task, in which 90% of the targets appeared at the neutral word position and 10% at the sad word position. The placebo training procedure is a classic dot-probe task in which the targets appeared with equal probability in the sad (50%) and neutral (50%) word positions. The investigators assess attention bias scores, depressive symptoms, trait anxiety, rumination and self-report attention control ability at 1-week, 2-week, 4-week,7-week,3-month,4-month, 5-month, 6-month and 12-month follow-ups after training.

The ABM training task was a variation of the computerized visual dot-probe task. During the training, each session includes 54 neutral-sad word pairs presenting 6 times (6 × 54=324 trials) during 20-minute. Participants received 12 sessions over 4 weeks (1 session every other day). In the active ABMT, 90% of the probes appeared at the neutral position and 10% at the sad position. At the placebo ABMT, 50% of the probes appeared at the neutral position and 50% at the sad position.

pre-training, post-training(4 weeks after pre-training), follow-ups(1-week,2-week,4-week,7-week,3-month(booster pre-training),4-month(booster post-training),5-month,6-month,12-month after post-training )

Depression symptoms tested by clinicians using Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS)

pre-training, post-training(4 weeks after pre-training), follow-ups(1-week,2-week,4-week,7-week,3-month(booster pre-training),4-month(booster post-training),5-month,6-month,12-month after post-training )

The severity of depression tested by clinicians using the 17-Item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)

pre-training, post-training(4 weeks after pre-training), follow-ups(1-week,2-week,4-week,7-week,3-month(booster pre-training),4-month(booster post-training),5-month,6-month,12-month after post-training )

Self-reported depressive symptoms assessed by Beck depression scale-second version (BDI-II), and trait anxiety assessed by State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait(STAI-T), rumination assessed by Rumination Response Scale(RRS).

pre-training, post-training(4 weeks after pre-training), follow-ups(1-week,2-week,4-week,7-week,3-month(booster pre-training),4-month(booster post-training),5-month,6-month,12-month after post-training )

pre-training, post-training(4 weeks after pre-training), follow-ups(1-week,2-week,4-week,7-week,3-month(booster pre-training),4-month(booster post-training),5-month,6-month,12-month after post-training )

pre-training, post-training(4 weeks after pre-training), follow-ups(1-week,2-week,4-week,7-week,3-month(booster pre-training),4-month(booster post-training),5-month,6-month,12-month after post-training )

Inclusion Criteria: The presence of definite and probable MDD (i.e., at least 1 core symptom plus 3 further depressive symptoms present for at least 2 weeks) diagnoses Exclusion Criteria: a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or mood disorder due to a general medical condition or substance-induced mood disorder; and any concurrent treatment (i.e., psychotherapy and/or pharmacotherapy).

Yang W, Ding Z, Dai T, Peng F, Zhang JX. Attention Bias Modification training in individuals with depressive symptoms: A randomized controlled trial. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2015 Dec;49(Pt A):101-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.08.005. Epub 2014 Sep 8.

Yang W, Zhang JX, Ding Z, Xiao L. Attention Bias Modification Treatment for Adolescents With Major Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2016 Mar;55(3):208-18.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.12.005. Epub 2015 Dec 23.