View clinical trials related to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Filter by:Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is considered one of the most debilitating of the psychiatric illnesses, yet much remains unclear regarding causes and cures. A diagnostic subgroup with acute onset of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (and sometimes tics or anorexia nervosa) possibly due to an autoimmune response, has been entitled Pediatric Acute onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS). PANS is sometimes treated with immunomodulatory therapy or antibiotics, with a variable outcome. A diagnosis of PANS is supported by elevated levels of auto-antibodies and antibody-enzyme activity measured with the Cunningham panel, but the relationship between these biomarkers and the patients' symptoms remains unclear. A clinician rated symptom scale for PANS (the PANS scale) has been developed, but needs to be further evaluated regarding sensitivity and specificity. Aims: - To assess a Swedish cohort of patients diagnosed with PANS and compile their psychiatric health status, biomarkers, psychiatric symptoms, soft neurological signs and treatment outcomes in a systematic way - To compare psychiatric health status, biomarkers and psychiatric, neurologic and motor symptoms in this PANS cohort with a control group of psychiatric patients and with healthy children. - To evaluate the Cunningham panel as a diagnostic tool for PANS. - To evaluate a clinician rated symptom scale (the PANS scale) as a diagnostic tool for PANS. Method: Observational study Participants: Patients (n≈150) who have been tested with the Cunningham panel of PANS biomarkers in Sweden (or Swedish patients tested in Denmark) will be asked to participate. Procedure: Assessment of current symptoms, psychiatric health, neurological and motor symptoms and possible biomarkers for PANS will be collected for all patients. Retrospective assessment through interview and medical records, including results from the first assessment with the Cunningham panel of PANS-biomarkers is made with all patients. 50 out of the total PANS cohort of 150 patients will be re-tested with the Cunningham panel. A control group consisting of psychiatric patients (n=60) and healthy children (n=25) will be examined with a similar test battery and signs and symptoms will be compared with the PANS group. Significance: Previous and current symptoms of PANS, levels of PANS biomarkers and treatment outcome will be investigated, thus knowledge regarding long-term outcome and evidence for the use of clinical assessment tools and biomarkers for diagnosing PANS will be gained.
The neuropsychological profiles of children treated with standard CBT for OCD are evaluated.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe and debilitating anxiety disorder afflicting 2% of the population. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is considered first line psychological treatment for OCD, but there are a large number of treatment non-responders, and the majority of responders have residual symptoms. Aerobic exercise has shown potential benefit for general mood and anxiety disorders, but has not been widely tested in OCD. This study will examine the additive benefits of a standard 12-week aerobic exercise program to a standard 12-week CBT protocol in the treatment of OCD. The study will test if Exercise+CBT results in significantly better clinical outcomes compared to either treatment alone or no treatment at all. Treatment outcomes will be assessed in relation to symptom and cognitive measures of clinical improvement.
Voluntary and involuntary attention processes are thought to play an important role in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders including OCD. Individuals with OCD pay greater attention to threat information related to their illness and have difficulty shifting their attention from such triggers. Studies suggest that a change in attention bias may lead to a change in anxiety vulnerability. However, few studies have directly examined the causal role of attention bias in the maintenance of anxiety underlying OCD and whether modification of such biases may reduce pathological anxiety symptoms particularly in children. In this proposal, we aim to translate basic findings from research on cognitive biases in anxiety into a novel computerized intervention for child Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The treatment is designed to target a basic cognitive vulnerability in OCD, namely the selective processing of threatening OCD-related information. 52 children with OCD will be randomly assigned to either a 12-session attention modification program (AMP) or an attention control condition (ACC). Clinical assessment of symptom severity along with a brief neurocognitive battery will be conducted before and after treatment. We hypothesize that children in the AMP group at end of treatment will show (1) decreased attention bias to OCD-related triggers using an independent measure of attention bias to assess change and (b) reduced OCD severity. This study is an initial step towards demonstrating the feasibility and efficacy of a novel computerized attention training program for OCD that ultimately may prove to be a highly transportable and accessible intervention for this childhood psychiatric disorder. Furthermore, the project will also examine neurocognitive performance before and after attention training to elucidate possible predictors and mechanisms of treatment response.
Anxiety disorders affect 40 to 50% of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), contributing to substantial distress and impairment. The goal of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a personalized type of psychotherapy against standard-care psychotherapy for addressing anxiety in youth with ASD.
This study will address questions of fundamental clinical significance including: (1) whether OCD patients maintained on long term SRIs can be discontinued without symptom exacerbation, (2) whether trans-diagnostic cognitive-behavioral treatment will reduce worsening following discontinuation compared to Taper and Monitoring, and (3) whether predictors of successful SRI discontinuation can be identified.
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate whether administration of xenon reduces symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Xenon is a naturally occurring gas that has been used in clinical settings both as a general anesthetic agent and as a contrast agent for computed tomography (CT) scans. Investigators believe that xenon may be effective in reducing symptoms of OCD due to its ability to reduce the activity of a specific brain chemical called glutamate, which has been shown to be abnormal in the brains of people with OCD. It is important to understand that this study uses a placebo, or inactive, treatment. In this study, the placebo treatment is inhalation of room air (instead of xenon). All participants will receive both xenon and placebo treatments at some point over the course of the study. However, neither the participants nor the study investigators will know which treatment you are receiving.
Anxiety disorders are a major public health concern, having a profound impact on functioning, causing significant disability, loss of productivity and suffering. Effective treatments exist for these disorders, but few clinicians are trained in these methods. This project attempts to remedy this shortcoming by using web-based tools to facilitate access to this training, thus increasing the number of available therapists in order to help meet this unmet need.
Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have long been observed to demonstrate symptoms in common with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in particular, an obsessive fear of normal weight leading to dangerous food restriction, as well as many compulsive rituals about food. Both AN and OCD are seriously handicapping and often resistant to conventional therapies. Given that the two conditions often co-occur and are associated with still unknown genetic risk factors, the aim of this project is to identify their shared and distinct patterns of brain activity. The investigators propose to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare brain response among adolescents with AN, OCD, and age-matched healthy individuals. Specifically, this study will investigate function of distinct brain circuits related to core aspects of these related disorders. The investigators use three tasks related to set shifting, global vs. local processing, and reward. Based on evidence of deficits in cognitive flexibility and ability to change behavior, the investigators hypothesize that adolescents with AN and with OCD will show hypoactivity of frontostriatal circuitry during cognitive tasks, and adolescents with AN will show hyperactivity in limbic regions in a reward task. This study is the first to directly compare brain activation patterns using functional neuroimaging in AN and OCD. The goal is to determine how abnormal brain activity relates to symptom formation, what accounts for shared characteristics amongst these disorders, and whether deficits in specific circuitry underlie their unique defining features. The study of shared and unique elements of functional brain circuitry reflects a new, emerging approach to the classification of psychiatric illness, one based on identifying unique combinations of biological risk factors that link related conditions. This approach is widely believed to be a critical step forward in developing more brain-relevant targeted strategies for preventative interventions.
This study investigates if a single dose of IV Ketamine can rapidly improve Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms and whether these effect can be maintained with a condensed course of a type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention (EX/RP). You will be compensated for your time and travel. Participants must be between the ages of 18-55.