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Major Depressive DisorderMoodHabNCT06322420

Behavioral Activation for Depression and Habitual Rumination

A study testing Behavioural Activation (BA) in people with Major Depressive Disorder, run by University of Iceland at 1 site in Iceland.

Active, not recruiting

Under way, not looking for participants. Everyone needed has enrolled. The study is still running.

Official record
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Trial summary

Depressive rumination, a negative thinking style characterized by repetitive and passive thoughts about the causes, meanings, and consequences of one's feelings and distress, is often described as being a habitual response tendency that forms a vulnerability to depression. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 65 years
Conditions the study is for
Major Depressive Disorder
What is being tested?
Behavioural Activation (BA)
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
120 participants
Where
1 siteIceland
Study dates
9 Feb 2024to 11 Dec 2026
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 65 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Current major depressive episode according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria evaluated with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview, that is considered to be the primary diagnosis.
  • Sore of 14 or higher on Becks Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) that measures severity of symptoms of depression past 2 weeks.
  • Participants are between 18 and 65 years of age at start of study.
  • Satisfactory understanding of the Icelandic language to complete measures in the study.
  • Completion of pre-treatment assessment that includes 2 visits to researchers and a 6-day ecological momentary assessment.

Who cannot join

  • Current or past manic or hypomanic episodes according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria evaluated with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview.
  • Current or past psychotic disorders according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria evaluated with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview.
  • Presence of substance abuse within the last 12 months according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria evaluated with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview.
  • Presence of active and serious suicidal thoughts or a suicidal attempt in the previous 2 months.
  • Unstable medical treatment for depression (type of drug and/or dosing) during past two months at pre-treatment assessment.
  • Recent psychotherapy within the past month at pre-treatment assessment or active psychotherapy during study participation.
  • Cognitive impairments or severe physical illness.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Iceland1 site
  • University of Iceland

    Reykjavik, Iceland, 102

Other trials in Iceland

About this study

Official title: Mood-reactive Habitual Rumination and Changes During Behavioral Activation Treatment for Major Depression

Depressive rumination, a negative thinking style characterized by repetitive and passive thoughts about the causes, meanings, and consequences of one's feelings and distress, is often described as being a habitual response tendency that forms a vulnerability to depression. Behavioural Activation (BA) is an effective treatment for depression but little is known of mechanisms of changes during a successful treatment completion and for whom the treatment benefits the most. The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether habit-like mood-reactive rumination will change during Behavioral Activation treatment for current depression and mediates symptom changes in the treatment. Important moderators of change will also be investigated (i.e. history of early life stress and cognitive flexibility). We aim to provide individual BA treatment for up to 120 currently depressed participants (from 90 to 120 participants) in 12 treatment sessions over 11 weeks. Measures are obtained at pre-treatment, during treatment, at post-treatment and at 6 month follow up.

Read the detailed description

Depressive rumination, a negative thinking style characterized by repetitive and passive thoughts about the causes, meanings, and consequences of one's feelings and distress, is often described as being a habitual response tendency that forms a vulnerability to depression. Behavioural Activation (BA) is an effective treatment for depression but little is known of mechanisms of changes during a successful treatment completion and for whom the treatment benefits the most. The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether habit-like mood-reactive rumination will change during Behavioral Activation treatment for current depression and mediates symptom changes in the treatment. Important moderators of change will also be investigated (i.e. history of early life stress and cognitive flexibility). We aim to provide individual BA treatment for up to 120 currently depressed participants (estimated number of participants is from 90 to 120) in 12 treatment sessions over 11 weeks. Measures are obtained at pre-treatment, during treatment (in sessions and during two assessment windows after session 4 and 8), at post-treatment and at 6 month follow up. Multimodal assessment of key constructs will be used in the study, including clinician ratings using semi-structured diagnostic interviews, self-report questionnaires, experimental tasks and ecological momentary assessment to capture moment-to-moment changes during the flow of daily life. Our main research questions are: 1) Does BA lead to reduction in depressive symptoms and diagnostic status, and are these symptom changes mediated by changes in habit-like mood-reactive ruminative thinking? 2) Are treatment gains and possible mediation of habit-like ruminative thinking, moderated by history of early-life stress and cognitive flexibility, that both have been established as predisposing factors for symptom onset in depression and are also know moderators of the development of rumination as a habit? 3) Does perceived control and reward-related responses increase during BA and are these changes associated with rumination as a habit? 4) Are gains during treatment maintained at 6-month follow up after treatment completion?

Moderators measured at pre-treatment: :

History of early life stess (total and physical/sexual/emotional abuse in particular), measured with the The Childhood Traumatic Event Scale (CTES) and The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire.

Cognitive flexibility: The Standard version of the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), The Trail Making Test (TMT) and Digit-Span will be administered.

Mediators measured at pre-treatment, during treatment, post-treatment and follow up:

Depressive rumination will be measured with the brooding and reflective pondering subscales of the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS).

Habitual characteristics of ruminative thinking will be measured with the Habit Index of Negative Thinking (HINT).

Perceived control will be measured with the Pearlin Mastery Scale (PMS).

Reward-related responding will be measured with the Environmental Reward Observation Scale (EROS).

Level of activation will be measured with the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale (BADS).

Selected items from the RRS, PMS, EROS and BADS are administered along the PHQ-9 at start of all treatment sessions in the study.

State ruminative thinking, perceived control, reward-related responding and level of activation will also be measured 8 times per day during ecological momentary assessment via smartphones for six days at pre-treatment and post-treatment and for three days at two assessment windows during treatment.

Being tested
Behavioural Activation (BA)
Keywords
Depression
Medical subject headings
Depressive Disorder, Major, Depression

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Behavioural Activation (BA)Behavioural

    Behavioural activation treatment delivered in this single arm study. Individual treatment given to all participants in 12 sessions over 11 weeks. All treatment components have been introduced by session 8 that defines minimum amount of treatment in the trial (i.e. 8 session completed).

    Behavioral Activation is a psychological treatment for depression focused on gradually re-engaging people with sources of reinforcement and reward in their environment by re-establish healthy patterns of activity, and replace avoidance behaviours with more adaptive behaviours.

Study groups in NCT06322420
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
TreatmentExperimentalActive treatment provided to all participants in the study.
Receives: Behavioral: Behavioural Activation (BA)

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Symptom severity measured by the BDI-2

    Severity of depressive symptoms as defined by BDI-2 (self-report rating). The BDI-2 will be administrated pre- and post treatment as a primary outcome measure.

    Additionally it will also be administrated after session 4 and session 8 and in a follow up measure 6 months after treatment ends.

    The BDI-2 is a 21 item self report scale. Each item is answered with a 4 point likert scale (0-3). The total score ranges from 0-63.

    Treatment response is defined as at least a 50% reduction in total symptom severity

    Measured: 2 weeks

  2. Disorder severity assessed with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview - Major Depressive Disorder

    The DIAMOND interview is intended to be used with adults (age 18 and up) with known or suspected Mood, Anxiety, or Obsessive- Compulsive and Related Disorders. The DIAMOND provides information on the diagnostic status and current severity for all disorders assessed in the interview according to DSM-5 criteria.

    This outcome is defined as severity (distress/impairment) of Major Depressive Disorder on a scale from 1-7 (normal, borderline, mild, moderate, marked, severe or extreme) at post-treatment (compared to pre-treatment assessment) assessed by an interviewer using the DIAMOND.

    Measured: 2 weeks

  3. Diagnostic status assessed with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview - Major Depressive Episode

    The DIAMOND interview is intended to be used with adults (age 18 and up) with known or suspected Mood, Anxiety, or Obsessive- Compulsive and Related Disorders. The DIAMOND provides information on the diagnostic status and current severity for all disorders assessed in the interview according to DSM-5 criteria.

    This outcome is defined as presence (or absence) of Major Depressive Episode in the past two weeks at post-treatment (compared to pre-treatment assessment), assessed by an interviewer using the DIAMOND.

    Measured: 2 weeks

Secondary outcomes (5)
  1. Symptom severity measured on the PHQ-9

    Severity of depressive symptoms measured with the PHQ-9 at post-treatment. The PHQ is as a 9 item self-administered measre for the assessment of the severity of depressive symptoms. Each item is answered with a 4 point likert scale (0-3). The total score ranges from 0-27.

    Treatment response is defined as at least a 50% reduction in total symptom severity.

    Measured: 1 week

  2. Momentary negative and positive affectivity using items from the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule)

    Changes in momentary negative and positive affectivity using EMA (Ecological Momentary Assessment) via smartphones measured at post-treatment.

    Participants answer 8 multiple choice questions (1-5) eight times per day for six days (pre- and post treatment). Four items represent negative affectivity (NA) and four positive affectivity (PA). In the research group's previous studies, six of the items were used to calculate NA and PA scores, three for NA and three for PA. Consistent with previous research, three items will be used for each scale, thus total score for each scale can range from 3-15.

    Additionally the EMA measures will be administrated twice while treatment is ongoing, after session 4 and session 8, where the questions will be answered eight times per day for three days.

    Measured: 6 days

  3. Diagnostic status assessed with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview at follow -up - Major Depressive Episode

    The DIAMOND interview is intended to be used with adults (age 18 and up) with known or suspected Mood, Anxiety, or Obsessive- Compulsive and Related Disorders. The DIAMOND provides information on the diagnostic status and current severity for all disorders assessed in the interview according to DSM-5 criteria.

    This outcome is defined as presence (or absence) of Major Depressive Episode in the past two weeks at 6 months follow-up after end of treatment (compared to pre-treatment assessment), assessed by an interviewer using the DIAMOND.

    Measured: 2 weeks

  4. Diagnostic status assessed with the DIAMOND diagnostic interview at follow-up- Major Depressive Disorder

    The DIAMOND interview is intended to be used with adults (age 18 and up) with known or suspected Mood, Anxiety, or Obsessive- Compulsive and Related Disorders. The DIAMOND provides information on the diagnostic status and current severity for all disorders assessed in the interview according to DSM-5 criteria.

    This outcome is defined as presence (or absence) of Major Depressive Disorder in the past 6 months at 6 months follow-up after end of treatment.

    Measured: 6 months

  5. The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS)

    The QOLS at post-treatment is a 16-item instrument that measured quality of life on a scale from 1-7 and the total score can range is from 16-112.

    Measured: The QOL asks about how people experience their quality of life in the present, it will bee submitted through study completion, an average of 9 months, pre treatment, post treatment and in a 6 month follow up.

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted21 Mar 2024
  2. Study start9 Feb 2024
  3. Primary completion11 Jun 2026
  4. Study completion11 Dec 2026 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
120 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06322420
Sponsor's protocol ID
MoodHab
Acronym
MoodHab
Status last verified
Jun 2026
First submitted
8 Feb 2024
Last updated
26 Jun 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Undecided

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Behavioural Activation (BA) in people with Major Depressive Disorder, run by University of Iceland at 1 site in Iceland.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 7 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 26 Jun 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Iceland. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Symptom severity measured by the BDI-2 (time frame: 2 weeks). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 26 Jun 2026.

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MoodHab Clinical Trial NCT06322420 | AzTrials