---
title: Attention Control Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ׂ(PTSD)
nct_id: NCT02945709
overall_status: COMPLETED
phase: NA
sponsor: Tel Aviv University
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
primary_condition: PTSD
countries: Israel
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/agent/trials/NCT02945709.md"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02945709"
ct_last_update_post_date: 2020-06-22
last_seen_at: "2026-05-12T07:23:34.085Z"
source: ClinicalTrials.gov (mirrored, no enrichment)
---
# Attention Control Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ׂ(PTSD)

**Official Title:** Attention Control Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

**NCT ID:** [NCT02945709](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02945709)

## Key Facts

- **Status:** COMPLETED
- **Phase:** NA
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Target Enrollment:** 60
- **Lead Sponsor:** Tel Aviv University
- **Conditions:** PTSD
- **Start Date:** 2016-10
- **Completion Date:** 2019-12
- **CT.gov Last Update:** 2020-06-22

## Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy of Attention Control Training for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

ACT was found to be effective in decreasing attention bias variability and PTSD symptoms in combat veterans (Badura-Brack, et al., 2015). It is now important to continue the examination of ACT's efficacy in additional populations of patients with PTSD. Such extension of treatment to other traumatic experiences raises the question of whether the threatening content of the training material could be personalized for each patient.

## Detailed Description

The aim of this study is to explore the efficacy of Attention Control Training for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

ACT was found to be effective in decreasing attention bias variability and PTSD symptoms in combat veterans (Badura-Brack, et al., 2015). It is now important to continue the examination of ACT's efficacy in additional populations of patients with PTSD. Such extension of treatment to other traumatic experiences raises the question of whether the threatening content of the training material could be personalized for each patient.

For this purpose, we will recruit participants that are diagnosed with PTSD and will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: personalized ACT, non-personalized ACT, or control training We expect that personalized ACT will produce greater reduction in PTSD symptoms relative to a non-personalized ACT, and that both these conditions will be more effective in symptoms reduction than a control condition not designed to affect attention or expose patients to threat stimuli. We also expect the ACT conditions to reduce attention bias variability relative to the control condition.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 18 Years
- **Maximum age:** 70 Years
- **Sex:** ALL
- **Healthy Volunteers:** No

```
Inclusion Criteria:

Meeting a current diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) according to DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013);

Exclusion Criteria:

1. A diagnosis of psychotic or bipolar disorders.
2. A diagnosis of a neurological disorder (i.e., epilepsy, brain injury).
3. Suicidal ideation.
4. Drugs or alcohol abuse.
5. Non-fluent Hebrew.
6. A pharmacological treatment that is not stabilized in the past 3 months (a stable treatment will not be a reason for exclusion from the study).
7. Pregnancy. -
```

## Arms

- **Personalized ACT** (EXPERIMENTAL) — The personalized attention control training (ACT), comprised of six computerized sessions, in purpose of modulate biases in attention for personalized threat stimuli.
- **Non personalized ACT** (ACTIVE_COMPARATOR) — The Non-personalized attention control training (ACT), comprised of six sessions, in purpose of modulate biases in attention for non-personalized threat stimuli.
- **Control training** (PLACEBO_COMPARATOR) — Computerized control training, comprised of six sessions with a variation of the dot-probe task with neutral stimuli

## Interventions

- **Personalized Attention control training (ACT)** (BEHAVIORAL) — In this intervention, participants will be trained with a personalized Dot-Probe task. Each participant will perform the task with the set of words that he or she ranked as the most threatening according to a Word Ranking Task.
- **Non-personalized Attention control training (ACT)** (BEHAVIORAL) — In this intervention, participants will be trained with the same Dot-Probe task as in the personalized condition, except that the word stimuli will be randomly fit for each participant. It should be noted that 25% out of the words in this condition will be high ranked words according to each patient's word ranking. The aim of this is to enhance similarity to a generic ACT intervention (see Badura-Brack et al., 2015), where there is some degree of exposure to what one may consider "personalized" stimuli (i.e., threat words that were randomly included by the researchers), although it is not deliberately set to idiosyncratic preferences.
- **Control training.** (BEHAVIORAL) — In this intervention, participants will perform a computerized task, similar to the Dot-Probe task. In each trial, one neutral word will be presented at the center of the screen and participants will respond to a probe ('E' or 'f') presented following the removal of the words display. This version does not include the essential ingredients thought to reduce PTSD symptoms in the other dot-probe tasks: exposure to threat content and competition on attentional resources. Thus, this control version provides a control condition for the ACT interventions.

## Primary Outcomes

- **A diagnosis of PTSD and a total score of severity symptoms, as driven from the CAPS-5 interview** _(time frame: 40 minutes)_ — The Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5), is a structured interview that will be used to make a diagnosis of PTSD according to the DSM-V criteria. This interview is consists of 30 items regarding the frequency and intensity of PTSD symptoms and a total score of severity is been rated (Weathers, Blake, Schnurr, Kaloupek, Marx, \& Keane, 2013).

## Secondary Outcomes

- **Total score of the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5).** _(time frame: 10 minutes)_

## Locations (1)

- Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

## Recent Field Changes (last 30 days)

- `status.overallStatus` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `status.primaryCompletionDate` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `status.completionDate` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `status.lastUpdatePostDate` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `design.phases` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `design.enrollmentCount` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.criteria` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.minAge` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.maxAge` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.sex` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `outcomes.primary` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `outcomes.secondary` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `armsInterventions.arms` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `armsInterventions.interventions` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `sponsor.lead` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `results.hasResults` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `locations.tel aviv university|tel aviv||israel` — added _(2026-05-12)_

---

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*Source data (authoritative): https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02945709*  
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