ADIE to prevent development of anxiety disorders in autism - version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Aligning Dimensions of Interoceptive Experience (ADIE) to prevent development of anxiety disorders in autism
IRAS ID
217819
Contact name
Hugo Critchley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) affect 2% of the population and are characterized by lifelong difficulties in social functioning with restricted patterns of behaviour and interests. People with ASCs are vulnerable to anxiety; at least 1 in 4 develops a co-morbid anxiety disorder, which may be resistant to typical drug therapy and psychological approaches.
Interoception is the ability to sense internal changes in the body such as heart rate. Some of our recent work has shown anxiety can be increased if there is a discrepancy between how well patients feel they can interpret signals, such as their heartbeat, from their body and how well they are actually able to do this. We have found that helping people to be more aware of their ability, and to increase their ability to interpret signals from the body helps reduce and may prevent anxiety symptoms. We would like to try out and compare a new treatment, Aligning Dimensions of Interoceptive Experience (ADIE), teaching ASC patients these skills against the current treatment.
We will conduct a clinical trial to test this new treatment. We will test the efficacy of ADIE on anxiety symptoms and we will also check anxiety disorder diagnosis, medication and function one year later.
The neurodevelopmental ‘organic’ nature of ASCs means doctors don’t always accept psychological interventions as being affective treatment. To challenge this misconception, we will use state-of-the-art neuroimaging to investigate the brain’s physiological response to ADIE, also guiding ways to optimise the therapy.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0125
Date of REC Opinion
5 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion