Project neuroARTEMIS

The purpose of this research is to understand how chronic stress affects the way our brain and immune systems function, and in turn how this affects the way people feel, think, and behave. By learning more about how these processes work, the hope is to be able to develop better treatments to help with problems like depression and substance use. This study is intended for individuals that are HIV positive, currently taking prescription antiretroviral medications, and use stimulants. Through this intervention, the aim is to determine if this positive affect intervention can lead to reductions in stimulant use and depressed mood.

Participants who meet initial eligibility criteria will complete a baseline assessment that includes psychosocial and behavioral measures, biospecimen collection, and an MRI brain scan. Participants will then be randomized to either: 1) ARTEMIS; or 2) a waitlist control (WLC) condition. ARTEMIS participants will receive 5 sessions delivered individually over Zoom across 3 months. All participants (including WLC) will receive contingency management (CM) for antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence to support sustained viral suppression over the active phase of the trial. During the intent-to-treat period, assessments at 3- and 6-month follow-ups will characterize changes in neural activity (assessed via fMRI) and conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) leukocyte signaling (assessed via RNA sequencing) as plausible mediators of behavioral outcomes following ARTEMIS. WLC participants will be offered the ARTEMIS intervention after a 6-month delay.