TY - JOUR A1 - Kaussner, Y. A1 - Kuraszkiewicz, A. M. A1 - Schoch, S. A1 - Markel, Petra A1 - Hoffmann, S. A1 - Baur-Streubel, R. A1 - Kenntner-Mabiala, R. A1 - Pauli, P. T1 - Treating patients with driving phobia by virtual reality exposure therapy – a pilot study JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Objectives Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is a promising treatment for patients with fear of driving. The present pilot study is the first one focusing on behavioral effects of VRET on patients with fear of driving as measured by a post-treatment driving test in real traffic. Methods The therapy followed a standardized manual including psychotherapeutic and medical examination, two preparative psychotherapy sessions, five virtual reality exposure sessions, a final behavioral avoidance test (BAT) in real traffic, a closing session, and two follow-up phone assessments after six and twelve weeks. VRE was conducted in a driving simulator with a fully equipped mockup. The exposure scenarios were individually tailored to the patients’ anxiety hierarchy. A total of 14 patients were treated. Parameters on the verbal, behavioral and physiological level were assessed. Results The treatment was helpful to overcome driving fear and avoidance. In the final BAT, all patients mastered driving tasks they had avoided before, 71% showed an adequate driving behavior as assessed by the driving instructor, and 93% could maintain their treatment success until the second follow-up phone call. Further analyses suggest that treatment reduces avoidance behavior as well as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder as measured by standardized questionnaires (Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire: p < .10, PTSD Symptom Scale–Self Report: p < .05). Conclusions VRET in driving simulation is very promising to treat driving fear. Further research with randomized controlled trials is needed to verify efficacy. Moreover, simulators with lower configuration stages should be tested for a broad availability in psychotherapy. KW - Mental health therapies KW - Heart rate KW - Animal behavior KW - Instructors KW - Psychometrics KW - Post-traumatic stress disorder KW - Fear KW - Pilot studies Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201051 VL - 15 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziegler, C. A1 - Richter, J. A1 - Mahr, M. A1 - Gajewska, A. A1 - Schiele, M.A. A1 - Gehrmann, A. A1 - Schmidt, B. A1 - Lesch, K.-P. A1 - Lang, T. A1 - Helbig-Lang, S. A1 - Pauli, P. A1 - Kircher, T. A1 - Reif, A. A1 - Rief, W. A1 - Vossbeck-Elsebusch, A.N. A1 - Arolt, V. A1 - Wittchen, H.-U. A1 - Hamm, A.O. A1 - Deckert, J. A1 - Domschke, K. T1 - MAOA gene hypomethylation in panic disorder-reversibility of an epigenetic risk pattern by psychotherapy JF - Translational Psychiatry N2 - Epigenetic signatures such as methylation of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene have been found to be altered in panic disorder (PD). Hypothesizing temporal plasticity of epigenetic processes as a mechanism of successful fear extinction, the present psychotherapy-epigenetic study for we believe the first time investigated MAOA methylation changes during the course of exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in PD. MAOA methylation was compared between N=28 female Caucasian PD patients (discovery sample) and N=28 age- and sex-matched healthy controls via direct sequencing of sodium bisulfite-treated DNA extracted from blood cells. MAOA methylation was furthermore analyzed at baseline (T0) and after a 6-week CBT (T1) in the discovery sample parallelized by a waiting time in healthy controls, as well as in an independent sample of female PD patients (N=20). Patients exhibited lower MAOA methylation than healthy controls (P<0.001), and baseline PD severity correlated negatively with MAOA methylation (P=0.01). In the discovery sample, MAOA methylation increased up to the level of healthy controls along with CBT response (number of panic attacks; T0-T1: +3.37±2.17%), while non-responders further decreased in methylation (-2.00±1.28%; P=0.001). In the replication sample, increases in MAOA methylation correlated with agoraphobic symptom reduction after CBT (P=0.02-0.03). The present results support previous evidence for MAOA hypomethylation as a PD risk marker and suggest reversibility of MAOA hypomethylation as a potential epigenetic correlate of response to CBT. The emerging notion of epigenetic signatures as a mechanism of action of psychotherapeutic interventions may promote epigenetic patterns as biomarkers of lasting extinction effects. KW - Adult KW - Case-Control Studies KW - Cognitive Therapy KW - DNA Methylation KW - Epigenesis KW - Genetic KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Monoamine Oxidase/genetics KW - Panic Disorder/genetics KW - Panic Disorder/therapy KW - Sequence Analysis KW - DNA Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-164422 IS - 6 ER -