What is the Re-Train Your Brain study about?

The University of Sydney is currently running a study to examine whether an online brain training program can successfully re-train spontaneous and sometimes unconscious mental habits that contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety and alcohol use disorders. The study aims to investigate whether the brain training program can successfully reduce anxiety and alcohol use among young Australians aged 18-30, when added as a supplement to face-to-face treatments such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

What is the science behind the Re-Train Your Brain program?

Cutting-edge cognitive brain training programs for anxiety and alcohol use problems have recently been developed, known as Cognitive Bias Modification. Cognitive Bias Modification directly modifies anxiety- and alcohol-related biases (namely interpretation and alcohol-approach biases) via repeated practice on online cognitive tasks.

This project is novel in applying Cognitive Bias Modification to younger people, when they experience both anxiety and alcohol use problems.

What does participation involve?

You will be asked to complete an online survey about your experiences with anxiety and other mental health concerns and experiences, as well as an online cognitive assessment. The cognitive assessment tasks are brief, simple and repetitive, and will allow us to assess your unconscious, automatic thoughts and tendencies. Participants will then be randomly allocated, like the flip of a coin, to receive either:

• 10 sessions of the brain training intervention, which will be delivered in two different formats, plus treatment as usual, or
• Treatment as usual only

You will then be asked to complete two online follow-up assessments, that occur 6 weeks and 3-months after the initial assessment.

You will be reimbursed with a $30 e-gift voucher for your time, for at the completion of the survey and cognitive assessment at each of the three time points.