Big Feelings: A Study on Children's Emotions in Therapy

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about how psychotherapy works for children and adolescents aged 8 - 15 with anxiety, depression, trauma, or disruptive behaviour. The main question it aims to answer is: • Is the biobehavioural regulation of negative emotion a transdiagnostic mechanism of treatment response in psychotherapy for children with anxiety, depression, trauma and/or disruptive behaviour? Children and their parents will be randomly assigned to an evidence-based, transdiagnostic treatment (the Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Conduct Problems; MATCH-ADTC) or a waitlist control condition. Participants in both groups will complete a baseline assessment, weekly measures consisting of brief symptom scales and medication tracking, and quarterly assessments every 3 months. Following the intervention/waitlist period, our team will conduct post-test assessments. All assessments, except for the weekly surveys, will consist of symptom scales, clinical interviews, experimental tasks and physiological measures.

NCT Number	NCT05637320
Lead Sponsor	University of Guelph Collaborators: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Conditions	Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorder, Mood Disorders, Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Regulation, Emotion, Child Behavior Disorders, Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders
Enrollment	202 participants
Start Date	2022-10-01
Primary Completion	2027-12-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-12-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-01-29