Measuring emotional reactions in people with alcohol use disorder or depression
Compares emotional recognition and reactions in adults with alcohol use disorder, depression, or both.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Emotional Reactivity in Severe Alcohol Use Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder Using Eye-tracking, Physiological, and Interoceptive Measures (ERAD)
Key facts
- Where
- Brussels, BelgiumSee the site
Could this be for you?
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 18 and 70 years old?
Source: NCT07925281, who can take part
Where in Belgium
- Cliniques universitaires Saint-LucBrussels, BelgiumTaking people
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Trial details
- Who runs it
- Université Catholique de Louvain
- Trial code
- NCT07925281
- Record updated
- 9 November 2026
- Original description
The goal of this observational study is to investigate emotional recognition and emotional reactivity in individuals with severe Alcohol Use Disorder (sAUD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), comorbid sAUD and depressive symptoms (sAUD+DS), and healthy controls.Read full original descriptionShow less
Emotional Reactivity in Severe Alcohol Use Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder: a Multidimensional Approach Combining Dynamic Emotional Stimuli, Eye Tracking, Pupillometry, Electrodermal and Cardiac Activity, and Biological Measures of Stress and Interoception
The goal of this observational study is to investigate emotional recognition and emotional reactivity in individuals with severe Alcohol Use Disorder (sAUD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), comorbid sAUD and depressive symptoms (sAUD+DS), and healthy controls.
The main questions this study aims to answer are:
* Do individuals with sAUD, MDD, sAUD+DS, and healthy controls exhibit different patterns of emotional recognition and emotional reactivity in response to dynamic emotional stimuli? * How are emotional recognition and emotional reactivity related to each other? * How are these emotional processes associated with psycho-affective, socio-emotional, stress-related, interoceptive, and disorder-specific factors? * Do emotional recognition and emotional reactivity predict clinical outcomes at 6- and 12-month follow-up assessments?
Participants will:
* Complete two experimental sessions involving dynamic emotional facial expression and emotional scene tasks * Provide emotion identification, subjective emotional ratings (type, intensity, and valence), and and self-reported bodily sensations using an emotional body map (InteroMap) * Undergo eye-tracking, pupillometry, electrodermal activity, and cardiac activity recordings during emotional tasks * Complete questionnaires assessing psycho-affective, socio-emotional, stress-related, and disorder-specific factors * Provide saliva and hair samples for cortisol assessment * Participate in follow-up clinical assessments at 6 and 12 months
Researchers will compare emotional recognition and emotional reactivity profiles across the sAUD, MDD, sAUD+DS, and healthy control groups, and evaluate their predictive value for future clinical outcomes.
Inclusion: All participants must:; Be aged 18 to 70 years, fluent in French, and able to provide written informed consent; Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision, without ocular conditions that could interfere with eye-tracking or pupillometry data quality; Patients with severe Alcohol Use Disorder (sAUD); Meet DSM-5 criteria for severe Alcohol Use Disorder; Be tested during the third week of abstinence; Have no history of neurological, endocrinal, or infectious disease, diagnosed anxiety or depressive disorder, or other substance use disorder (except tobacco); Patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD); Meet DSM-5 criteria for a current Major Depressive Episode; Have no history of neurological disease, severe alcohol use disorder, other substance use disorder (except tobacco), or other psychiatric disorders (e.g., bipolar disorder, schizophrenia); Patients with severe Alcohol Use Disorder and Depressive Symptoms (sAUD+DS); Meet the same inclusion criteria as the sAUD group; Present moderate to severe depressive symptoms persisting after withdrawal, confirmed by a clinical diagnosis using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI); Healthy Controls (HC); Recruited from the general population, matched to patients for age, sex, and education; Have no current or past psychiatric or neurological disorder; Present subclinical levels of alcohol consumption (AUDIT score <7 for men, <6 for women) and depressive symptoms (BDI-II score <10).
Exclusion: Cognitive impairment, uncorrected visual deficits, or any condition preventing understanding of instructions or reliable task performance (e.g., major attention or comprehension difficulties); Ophthalmological conditions that could compromise eye-tracking or pupillometry data quality; Dermatological conditions or excessive sweating that may interfere with electrodermal and cardiac activity recording; Cardiac conditions or devices that could affect ECG recording (e.g., pacemaker, defibrillator, severe uncontrolled arrhythmias), or use of medications strongly influencing heart rate; Current diagnosis of psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, or neurological disease; For healthy controls: use of psychotropic medication or history of substance use disorder; Acute intoxication or withdrawal state at the time of testing; Pregnancy; Ongoing participation in another interventional or clinical study that could interfere with behavioral or physiological measures.