Understanding Avoidance in Anxiety
This study is looking for people aged 22 to 55 with anxiety to help us understand avoidance behavior. We're using special behavioral tasks with brain imaging (fMRI) to see how your brain works during these tasks. After each brain scan, you'll complete weekly surveys for one month about your real-world avoidance. We want to see if changes in how you avoid things in the lab tasks affect your everyday avoidance. The goal is to learn more about why people with anxiety avoid certain situations and how this relates to brain activity. We are aiming to enroll 163 participants.
- Study design
- This is an interventional study with an estimated 163 participants. It is not specified if it is randomized or blinded.
- What's involved
- You will complete behavioral tasks during three separate fMRI scanning sessions. After each session, you will complete one week of self-reported avoidance surveys for a total of four weeks of surveys.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Your avoidance behavior will be measured at baseline, and then weekly for four weeks.
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Quantifying Multi-step Avoidance in Anxiety
At a glance
Conditions
NCT07203027
Where you'd take part
This study runs at 2 sites. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.
Emory College
Atlanta, Georgiano site contact published
Facility for Education and Research in Neuroscience (FERN)
Atlanta, Georgiano site contact published
Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.
Study leadership
- Vanessa M Brown, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · Emory University
Who to contact
Opens a ready-to-send draft in your own email app — review before sending.
Want this trial checked against your situation?
Add a private profile and we'll compare every criterion below against your situation — and tell you which ones are met, uncertain, or excluding.
Inclusion
Exclusion
What this trial measures
- Ecological momentary assessment (EMA)Baseline, week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4
Participants will complete one week of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess real-world avoidance behaviors after each of the scanning visits. The proportion of assessments where participants report engaging in avoidance behavior in the last hour will be assessed. Changes in the proportion of assessments where avoidance is reported will be used to measure changes in avoidance severity.
- Avoidance Severity Based on Location EntropyBaseline, week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4
Avoidance severity will be assessed using passive sensing of daily location patterns after each fMRI scanning visit. Participants will complete one week of passive sensing of location (using phone-based GPS measures) to assess real-world avoidance behaviors after each of the scanning visits. Changes in location entropy, representing the distribution of unique locations visited per day, will be used to measure changes in avoidance severity. Lower entropy values will indicate greater avoidance severity, while higher values will indicate less avoidance.
- Change in Location EntropyBaseline, week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4
Location entropy, defined as the distribution of unique locations visited per day, will be measured using one week of passive phone-based GPS monitoring after each fMRI scanning visit. This measure reflects variability in movement patterns and real-world avoidance behaviors.