Social Support and Reduced Fear Acquisition

University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to prevent the acquisition of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders. After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n =50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing fear acquisition procedures--the repeated pairing of a neutral image with a mild electric shock that ultimately leads to the association of threat of shock with the image--in the presence of an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) and an image of a smiling stranger.

NCT Number	NCT04564976
Lead Sponsor	University of California, Los Angeles Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Conditions	Fear, Anxiety
Enrollment	100 participants
Start Date	2022-02-09
Primary Completion	2026-09-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-09-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-08-11