Efficacy and Mechanism of Augmentation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation(tACS) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: ERP combined with high-definition active tACS, ERP combined with sham tACS.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Basic parameters: 18 years — 60 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- China
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Clinical Trial to Study the Efficacy and Mechanisms of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) Concurrent With Exposure-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Overview
This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and clinical outcome of the Exposure-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) concurrent with Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) using individualized stimulation frequency in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, and explores the potential neural mechanisms of treatment effect by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography (EEG).
Detailed description
The current study aims to evaluate feasibility and clinical outcome of exposure-based CBT (ERP) combined with tACS over the prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in treatment of OCD patients. 62 OCD patients will be randomized into two groups (ERP+active tACS, ERP+sham tACS stimulation). All patients will be received 10 sessions of individual ERP in a two-month period, including 8 sessions of concurrent tACS with ERP (tACS+ERP). Based on the EEG parameters, individualized modeling was conducted to determine specific stimulation parameter schemes (stimulation frequency).
The treatment program consists of a total of 10 sessions, with the first and last sessions being psychological therapy only. The middle eight sessions will involve concurrent transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and exposure and response prevention (ERP). The timing of assessments is designed to capture changes in symptom severity during the intervals between consecutive combined treatment sessions.
Three independent evaluators will assess the severity of patients' obsessive-compulsive symptoms using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) at four time points:
Baseline assessment (prior to the start of treatment); After the first combined session (Session 2) and before the second combined session (Session 3); After the fourth combined session (Session 5) and before the fifth combined session(Session 6); After the eighth combined session (Session 9) and before the final treatment session (Session 10).
Patients will also undergo electroencephalography (EEG) assessments at each evaluation time point. The current study aims to explore whether the administration of individualized stimulation frequency tACS in conjunction with ERP can enhance the efficacy of ERP, providing early evidence for revealing the potential neural mechanisms underlying this treatment. Additionally, participants will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at treatment baseline and after the completion of the full course of treatment.
Interventions
- Combination product ERP combined with high-definition active tACS
The active tACS +ERP referred to a period of tACS applied in the first 20 minutes of the ERP treatment (the tACS device was activated when ERP began and deactivated automatically while ERP continued). The total treatment phase lasted eight weeks and included ten sessions with experienced psychotherapists following a specific manual for the tACS+ERP treatment. Based on the EEG parameters, individualized modeling was conducted to determine specific stimulation parameter schemes (stimulation freque - Combination product ERP combined with sham tACS
Patients will get the same CBT setting as the active tACS group and they were applied the sham tACS cocurrently with ERP. The sham tACS device is the same as the active comparator's except that the sham tACS will only deliver a current stimulation for the first and last 15 seconds in order to produce somatic sensation in patients similar to that induced by the active tACS.
Primary outcome measures
- To explore the differences in treatment efficacy between active and sham transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) concurrent with exposure and response prevention (ERP)(tACS+ERP) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). [Time frame: baseline, 2weeks, 4weeks,8 weeks (baseline, after Session 2, 5, 10)]
Eligibility criteria
The investigators recruited outpatient adults with OCD confirmed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). The following inclusion and exclusion criteria were also applied:
Inclusion criteria
- 18-60 years old
- With at least 9 years of education
- Y-BOCS score ≥16
- No history of serious medical, neurological illness or other psychotic disorders other than OCD (anxiety or mild to moderate depression secondary to OCD was not exclusionary)
- Medication-free or had received stable medication for at least 8 weeks before entering the study and continued the same medication throughout the study
Exclusion criteria
- History of serious medical, neurological illness or other psychotic disorders other than OCD
- OCD symptoms are severe, preventing the patient from completing the required assessment and examination
- Serious suicide risk
- Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant
- Currently taking antiepileptic medication
- Clinically significant physical illnesses or laboratory test abnormalities that have clinical significance
- Previous completion of a full course of CBT/ERP treatment
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Triple blind
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
China · 1 center
- Shanghai Mental Health Center — Shanghai
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06717165 · SMHC-OCD-013