The Effect of Attention Bias Modification Training on Reducing Depressive Symptoms

A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Evaluation of the Efficacy of Attentional Bias Modification Training in the Treatment of Depressive Symptoms

The purpose of this study is to test whether attention bias modification training is an effective neurobehavioral therapy to improve depressive symptoms.That is whether attention bias modification training is superior to placebo in reducing depressive symptoms over 1 year after training.

Attentional bias has been theorized to play a critical role in the onset and maintenance of depression. Attentional bias modification training (ABMT), an experimental paradigm that uses training to induce adaptive attentional bias, was developed to test the causal model and this has therapeutic implications in depression.To test the effect of ABMT on treatment of depressive symptoms, a randomized, double-blind, placebo and blank controlled trial is conducted in college students who are experiencing mild-to-severe symptoms of depression.

Inclusion Criteria:

• A score of 14 or higher on the Beck Depression Inventory-II

Exclusion criteria :

1. a current episode of MDD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or organic mental disorder;
2. any concurrent psychotherapy;
3. any concurrent psychotropic medication.