Clinical Research Directory

Retrospective Analyses of TrakStar Database

In this study, real-world data will be used to better understand the effects patient characteristics, symptoms and TMS protocol parameters have on clinical outcomes with NeuroStar TMS.

TMS + Exposure Therapy for Pediatric OCD

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare different forms of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for improving the outcomes of Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) in youth and young adults with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Researchers will compare three groups: ERP with one of two different active ("real") forms of TMS vs. ERP with sham ("fake") TMS. The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1) whether TMS normalizes functioning in brain circuits that contribute to compulsive behavior, and 2) whether TMS reduces compulsions during ERP. Participants will: * Complete clinical interviews, questionnaires, and computerized tasks * Complete two MRIs (brain scans) * Receive daily TMS followed by ERP for two weeks (10 sessions)

SEEG-Guided DBS for OCD

This is a multi-site, double-blinded, randomized, crossover study design for SEEG-guided 4-lead DBS for treatment-refractory OCD, followed by open label stimulation for an additional 6 months. The study will be conducted in 3 stages: Stage 1 will consist of SEEG brain mapping and optimization of stimulation parameters. Stage 2 will consist of DBS surgery and further optimization of stimulation parameters. Stage 3 will be randomized, crossover treatment, followed by open label treatment.

Effects of Psilocybin in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

This study will test the feasibility, safety, and evidence for efficacy of psilocybin administration in participants with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This will serve as a preliminary proof of concept study for future larger studies aimed to investigate the utility, cognitive mechanisms, and neural correlates of this intervention.

Feasibility, Clinical Effects, and Safety of Psilocybin-assisted Psychotherapy for Treatment-resistant OCD

Psilocybin, the chemical component of "magic mushrooms", has been administered with psychotherapy in several randomized clinical trials (RCTs) showing large and sustained antidepressant effects. There is interest to see if similar effects may be provided in those with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and clinical effects of psilocybin administration in those with OCD. Ten participants with treatment-resistant OCD will receive two doses of 25mg of psilocybin under supportive conditions, two weeks apart. The investigators hypothesize that two sessions of psilocybin 25mg administered under supportive conditions to participants with treatment-resistant OCD will lead to significant reductions in OCD symptoms.

The STEP-MIED Trial: Digital Stepped-Care for Emotional Disorders

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a digital mindfulness-based intervention in adults (aged 18-65) diagnosed with emotional disorders like depression or anxiety. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does adding a digital mindfulness intervention to usual care help people recover from emotional disorders faster and more sustainably over two years? * Is this combined approach more cost-effective than usual care alone? Researchers will compare the group receiving the digital mindfulness intervention plus their usual treatment to the group receiving only their usual treatment to see if the intervention leads to better long-term recovery and represents good value for money. Participants in the intervention group will: * Attend eight weekly 2-hour online group mindfulness sessions. * Use a WeChat mini-program for 49 days of guided mindfulness exercises and daily tasks. * Patients who have not achieved reliable recovery after group retraining voluntarily participate in individual UP\&MIED counseling. * Complete regular questionnaires and interviews over two years to track their progress. All participants will continue to receive their usual medical care from their doctors throughout the study.

Transdiagnostic Versus Diagnosis-specific Cognitive-behavioral Therapy

The primary aim of the pilot study is to investigate the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effects of transdiagnostic and diagnosis-specific cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with anxiety disorders in routine psychiatric outpatient care in Stockholm, Sweden. It is hypothesized that an RCT is feasible in terms of recruitment, retention, therapist competence and adherence to treatments, and that the treatments are well received by participants.

A Multicenter Pediatric Deep Brain Stimulation Registry

There is limited data on outcomes for children who have undergone deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders, and individual centers performing this surgery often lack sufficient cases to power research studies adequately. This study aims to develop a multicenter pediatric DBS registry that allows multiple sites to share clinical pediatric DBS data. The primary goals are to enable large-scale, well-powered analyses of the safety and efficacy of DBS in the pediatric population and to further explore and refine DBS as a therapeutic option for children with dystonia and other hyperkinetic movement disorders. Given the current scarcity of evidence available to clinicians, this centralized multicenter repository of clinical data is critical for addressing key research questions and improving clinical practice for pediatric DBS.

A Clinical Trial of Tolcapone in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The primary aim of the present study is to examine the efficacy and safety of tolcapone in adults with moderate to severe OCD.

MDMA-Assisted CBT for OCD (MDMA-CBT4OCD Study)

The study assesses the safety and preliminary effectiveness of MDMA-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy in participants diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Pilot Study of RR-HNK in OCD

The purpose of this study is to understand how RR-HNK works in the brain to bring about a reduction in OCD symptoms.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions for OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe and debilitating anxiety disorder afflicting about 2% of the population. It is characterized by the presence of recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions that are time consuming and cause marked distress and/or impairment. Untreated, OCD runs a chronic and deteriorating course. According to the World Health Organization, OCD is among the top 10 leading causes of disability worldwide. Examination of non-medicinal treatments for OCD has focused on two distinct treatments: exposure and response prevention (ERP) and cognitive therapy (CT), often combined into an integrated cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT). CBT is considered the first line psychological treatment for OCD, with estimates of response rates of between 70-80%. However, there are a significant number of treatment non-responders and the majority of responders are still left with impairing residual symptoms. One area of investigation that has shown potential benefit for general mood and anxiety disorders has been mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), yet the potential benefits of MBIs in OCD has been largely unexamined, except for several small preliminary studies that show clinical promise. The purpose of this study is to examine the clinical benefits of a standardized MBI treatment for OCD in a large-scale, multi-site randomized controlled trial. The results of this study will directly determine whether Mindfulness can be considered an effective treatment for OCD. If this study can demonstrate that a short-term mindfulness intervention can significantly reduce the suffering associated with OCD, then the findings could easily be translated into routine clinical care in and out of hospital settings. Results of this study will also potentially add to our understanding of the mechanisms that drive OCD symptoms, improve our knowledge of psychological treatment mechanisms, and elucidate how biological factors influence psychological treatment outcomes.

Neurostimulation Versus Therapy for Problems With Emotions

The primary goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the unique neural and behavioral effects of a one-session training combining emotion regulation skills training, with excitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). The secondary aim is to identify key changes in the emotion regulation neural network following the combined intervention versus each of the components alone. The third aim is to explore personalized biomarkers for response to emotion regulation training. Participants will undergo brain imaging while engaging in an emotional regulation task. Participants will be randomly assigned to learn one of two emotion regulation skills. Participants will be reminded of recent stressors and will undergo different types of neurostimulation, targeted using fMRI (functional MRI) results. Participants who may practice their emotion regulation skills during neurostimulation in a one-time session. Following this training, participants will undergo another fMRI and an exit interview to assess for immediate neural and behavioral changes. Measures of emotion regulation will be assessed at a one week and a one month follow up visit.

University of Iowa Interventional Psychiatry Service Patient Registry

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of interventional/procedural therapies for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). These treatments include electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), racemic ketamine infusion and intranasal esketamine insufflation. The investigators will obtain various indicators, or biomarkers, of a depressed individuals' state before, during, and/or after these treatments. Such biomarkers include neurobehavioral testing, neuroimaging, electroencephalography, cognitive testing, vocal recordings, epi/genetic testing, and autonomic nervous system measures (i.e. "fight-or-flight" response). The results obtained from this study may provide novel antidepressant treatment response biomarkers, with the future goal of targeting a given treatment to an individual patient ("personalized medicine").

Sonication-based OCD Neurosurgical Intervention Via Capsulotomy

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine if ExAblate MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) bilateral anterior capsulotomy can be used safely and effectively to relieve symptoms of moderate to severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in individuals who have not benefited from psychotherapy and medications. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Can ExAblate MRgFUS capsulotomy be safely delivered to individuals suffering from treatment-refractory OCD through an intact skull with a risk and side-effect profile that is comparable to other neurosurgical approaches for capsulotomy? 2. Will ExAblate MRgFUS capsulotomy result in improvement in clinical symptoms and quality of life metrics that are similar to those seen with other surgical approaches for capsulotomy? In the first stage of the study, participants with severe, treatment resistant OCD (n=10) will be recruited in two centers (Harvard and Stanford) and treated with best medical care (BMT) for 6 months. Thereafter, they will receive the ExAblate MRgFUS procedure and then another BMT for 12 months. In the second stage of the study, participants with moderate to severe OCD (n=56) will be recruited in a multi-center study and treated with BMT plus real or sham MRgFUS for 12 months. Thereafter, those who received sham MRgFUS and did not improve will receive real MRgFUS and then treated with BMT for another 12 months.

CO2 Reactivity as a Biomarker of Non-Response to Exposure-Based Therapy

Anxiety-, obsessive-compulsive and trauma- and stressor-related disorders reflect a significant public health problem. This study is designed to evaluate the predictive power of a novel biomarker based on a CO2 challenge, thus addressing the central question "can this easy-to-administer assay aid clinicians in deciding whether or not to initiate exposure-based therapy?"

Psilocybin Whole Mushroom for the Treatment of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder.

The study tries to improve our treatments for people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by testing psilocybin, a mind altering drug that changes activity in brain areas involved in OCD. 30 patients with moderate or more severe OCD who are not taking mind altering medications or street drugs will participate in a 12 week study. Participants will be assigned (by luck of the draw) to take a low, medium, or high dose whole psilocybin mushroom contained in three chocolate pieces, prepared for this study by the Scottsdale Research Institute.

Search for Novel Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Targets for Mental Illness

Participants will receive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at a random location in the left prefrontal cortex, excluding sites that are potentially unsafe. Extensive behavioral testing will be conducted to determine which behaviors are modulated by stimulating which circuits.

Effects of Repeated Psilocybin Dosing in OCD

This study aims to investigate the effects of repeated dosing of oral psilocybin on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptomatology in a randomized, waitlist-controlled design with blinded independent ratings, and assess psychological mechanisms that may mediate psilocybin's therapeutic effects on OCD.

Valbenazine in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The primary aim of the study is to examine the efficacy and safety of valbenazine in adults with moderate to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Caloric Vestibular Stimulation for Modulation of Insight in Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders

This study investigates whether caloric vestibular stimulation can modulate a measure of insight in obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders.

Bilateral Lateral OFC rTMS in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

According to the literature the lateral part of the Orbito Frontal Cortex (lOFC) is a relevant bilateral target for repetitive Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Both hemispheres are concerned in terms of target.

Mechanisms of Exposure Therapy for OCD

Exposure therapy is the most effective treatment available for obsessive compulsive disorder, yet up to 50% of patients do not recover because the mechanisms underlying successful response are poorly understood, leading to significant variability in how clinicians conduct exposure therapy. The main purpose of this study is to determine which target mechanisms are most critical to engage in real-world exposure sessions to produce good treatment outcomes. Adult participants (N = 400) with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) receiving exposure therapy from two sites (McLean Hospital, San Diego State University) across the continuum of care (outpatient, partial hospital, residential) will complete baseline clinical and demographic measures as well as weekly symptom reports. The project will measure exposure mechanisms across three levels of analysis (self-report, observer-rated behavior, physiology) during each exposure session. Mechanisms assessed will include a broad range of variables based on both habituation and inhibitory learning models of exposure. Self-report and observer-rated mechanisms will be measured with the Exposure Feedback Form, created and piloted by the study team. Physiological mechanisms will include skin conductance response, heart rate, and heart rate variability measured with a wristwatch. The current study will determine (1) which exposure mechanisms lead to favorable clinical outcomes, and (2) what makes a good exposure for whom. Results of this study have the potential to improve personalized care for the many patients who do not remit following exposure therapy for OCD.

Deep Brain Stimulation of the Anterior Cingulate Bundle (ACB) and the Ventral Anterior Limb of the Internal Capsule (vALIC) in Patients With Intractable Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

This is a double blind pilot feasibility study, with a within subject crossover design of DBS of the anterior cingulate bundle(ACB) and the ventral anterior limb of the internal capsule(vALIC) in four patients with intractable OCD. Patients will be screened according to inclusion exclusion criteria listed above, approved by an independent Neuropsychiatric review board and informed consent obtained.