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Anxiety Disorders

Feelings of anxiety are an expected part of life that can occur in a variety of contexts, such as when we’re dealing with a problem at work, preparing for a test, or grappling with an important decision. However, when people experience anxiety that lasts for an extended period or worsens over time, they may have an anxiety disorder. The symptoms of an anxiety disorder can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and phobia-related disorders. Learn more about anxiety disorders.

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Featured Studies

Featured studies include only those currently recruiting participants. Studies with the most recent start date appear first.


Exercise Facilitation of Adolescent Fear Extinction, Frontolimbic Circuitry, and Endocannabinoids 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: March 1, 2024
Eligibility: 14 Years to 17 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Tolan Park Medical Building, Detroit, Michigan, United States

Anxiety disorders commonly begin during adolescence, and are characterized by deficits in the ability to inhibit or extinguish pathological fear. Recent research has provided new understanding of how fear is learned and can be regulated in the adolescent brain, and how the endocannabinoid system shapes these processes; however, these advances have not yet translated into improved therapeutic outcomes for adolescents with anxiety. This study will test whether a behavioral intervention, acute exercise, can help to improve fear regulation by enhancing brain activity and endocannabinoid signaling. This line of research may ultimately lead to more effect treatments for adolescent anxiety, and to new preventive strategies for at-risk youth.


Examining Mu Opioid Mechanisms of Ketamine's Rapid Effects in OCD (MKET2) 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: February 24, 2024
Eligibility: 18 Years to 65 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California, United States

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


SilverCloud as a School-Based Intervention for Vulnerable Youth 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: February 8, 2024
Eligibility: 13 Years to 22 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, United States

The goal of this study is to test the efficacy and feasibility of a clinician-guided, app-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program, SilverCloud, as a school-based mental health intervention for vulnerable youth. An open trial of SilverCloud will be conducted to determine preliminary efficacy in this sample and inform program refinements by collecting outcome self-report assessments and conducting interviews on feasibility and acceptability. After the program and its implementation strategy are refined, we will conduct an randomized controlled trial. Adolescents who screen positive for significant mental health symptoms and who are enrolled in their school-based health center (SBHC) will be randomized to receive SilverCloud or treatment as usual (TAU). Efficacy will be assessed through outcome self-reports. Feasibility and acceptability feedback will again be collected from participants, SBHC staff, and community members.


Managing Anxiety in Pediatric Primary Care (MAPP) 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: November 20, 2023
Eligibility: 6 Years to 17 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): UConn Health, West Hartford, Connecticut, United States

The goal of this clinical trial is to conduct a randomized controlled trial to enhance the capacity of pediatric primary care providers to assist their patients who struggle with anxiety.

The study aims to refine and assess the feasibility of the Anxiety Action Plan (AxAP), a brief intervention to reduce pediatric anxiety, delivered by primary care providers (PCPs) in community pediatric primary care clinics. The goal of the AxAP is to enhance the capacity of PCPs to identify and intervene with anxious youth, which will enhance access to care in general and especially in locations with few mental health specialists. PCPs participating in this study will attend a training, administer the intervention to enrolled youth assigned to the MAPP condition, participate in coaching sessions, and fill out study questionnaires. Families participating in this study will complete evaluations with the study team, receive the intervention from their PCP (if assigned to the MAPP condition), and fill out study questionnaires. Researchers will compare the MAPP intervention to Enhanced Usual Care (EUC; consisting of videos, handouts, and other resources for anxiety reduction) to see the differences, if any, in child outcomes.


Processes and Circuitry Underlying Threat Sensitivity as a Treatment Target for Co-morbid Anxiety and Depression 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: November 8, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years to 65 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

This mechanistic study uses an anti anxiety drug and brain imaging to study the threat processing system and associated brain circuits in people with depression, anxiety disorders and comorbid depression and anxiety disorders. In a double blind, placebo controlled crossover design, up to 65 individuals will be recruited who will have a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and at least one anxiety disorder (AD) (AD-MDD group), up to 65 participants will have a diagnosis of MDD and no diagnosis of an AD and up to 65 participants will have no diagnosis of MDD and a diagnosis of at least one AD will be enrolled to participate in an two session study to obtain 150 completers (50 per group). All participants will receive a single dose of Lorazepam and placebo (order randomized) taken orally. After the ~2.5 hr screening session, participants will complete two identical ~5 hr experimental sessions, each of which include a 30 min eyeblink startle session and a 1 hr functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan session. The total time involved in the study is approximately 10.5 hours.

The main questions the study seeks to answer are:

are people with comorbid depression and anxiety different than those with depression alone in terms of their eyeblink startle response to threat? are people with comorbid depression and anxiety different than those with depression alone in terms of their brain activation in response to threat? are people with comorbid depression and anxiety different than those with depression alone in terms of their responses to anxiety drugs?


A Precision Medicine Approach to Target Engagement for Emotion Regulation 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: September 29, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States

The proposed study is designed to first test whether teaching people personalized or standardized emotion regulation skills leads to greater decreases in daily negative emotion intensity. Second, using data from an initial sample, the investigators will prospectively assign an independent sample of participants to receive their predicted optimal or non-optimal skills to determine if it is feasible and efficacious to match participants to the most appropriate training condition. Results of these studies may identify the mechanisms by which emotion regulation interventions impact emotional functioning and allow for the development of personalized, evidence-based, and scalable emotion regulation interventions.


Toward Understanding Drivers of Patient Engagement With Digital Mental Health Interventions - Part II 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: June 7, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years to 75 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Jessica Morrow Lipschitz, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

This study is a clinical trial that evaluates what drives patient engagement and tests the impact of two strategies-automated motivational push messaging and coach support-to improve engagement with an evidence-based mobile app intervention for depression and/or anxiety.


Neural Markers of Treatment Mechanisms and Prediction of Treatment Outcomes in Social Anxiety 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: June 1, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years to 50 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The purpose of this clinical trial is to answer the question: can the investigators predict which adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD) will successfully respond to treatment? To answer this question, the investigators plan to recruit 190 adult participants who experience extreme forms of social anxiety to undergo brain imaging before and after 12 weeks of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Adults in the SAD group who do not respond enough to group CBT may be offered the opportunity to complete an additional 12 weeks of individual CBT while receiving SSRI medication (sertraline, see below) for SAD.

Data collected from participants who experience anxiety will be compared to a group of 50 participants with little or no social anxiety, who will serve as a comparison group.


Neurostimulation Versus Therapy for Problems With Emotions 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: May 15, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years to 55 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States

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.


Using Machine Learning to Optimize User Engagement and Clinical Response to Digital Mental Health Interventions 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: April 12, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Digital mental health interventions are a cost-effective and efficient approach to expanding the accessibility and impact of psychological treatments; however, little guidance exists for selecting the most effective program for a given individual. In the proposed study, decision rules will develop for selecting the digital program that is most likely to be the optimal intervention for each user. These treatment recommendations can be implemented in the context of large healthcare delivery systems to improve the delivery of digital mental health interventions at scale.

The overarching aim of the current study is to better understand for whom and how leading digital interventions work in a large healthcare setting. The study builds on the existing literature and follows expert recommendations by using machine learning (ML) methods to develop precision treatment rules (PTRs) for three leading digital interventions for emotional disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, and related mental health disorders). Specifically, ML methods will be used to develop PTRs to optimize clinical outcomes and associated intervention engagement. This study will leverage a unique partnership between Boston University (BU), SilverCloud Health (SC)--a leading provider of digital mental health care--and Kaiser Permanente (KP)--one of America's leading health care providers.

A clinical trial (RCT) will be conducted to evaluate the relative effectiveness of three distinct empirically supported digital mental health interventions (from SC's existing library of programs) in a sample recruited from KP primary care and other clinical settings. Data from this trial will be used to develop theoretically and empirically informed, reliable selection algorithms for managing treatment delivery decisions. Algorithms will be validated in a separate "holdout" dataset by examining whether allocation to predicted optimal treatment is associated with superior outcomes compared to allocation to a non-optimal treatment. The role of user engagement will be determined, and other mechanisms in treatment outcome.


Behavioral Activation and Medication Optimization For Improving Perioperative Mental Health In Older Adults Undergoing Oncologic Surgery 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: March 10, 2023
Eligibility: 60 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States

Using a Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness-Implementation randomized control trial (RCT) design, the investigators will test the effectiveness of a bundled behavioral activation and medication optimization in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in older adults undergoing oncologic surgery (compared with usual care), while examining implementation outcomes.


AI-Based Fidelity Feedback to Enhance CBT 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: March 9, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): The Penn Collaborative for CBT and Implementation Science, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

This study is being conducted together by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Lyssn.io, Inc., ("Lyssn"), a technology start-up developing digital tools to support evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for mental health disorders and addiction. This study will implement a technology to assess and enhance the quality of EBPs like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that includes a user interface geared to clinical, supervision, and administrative workflows and needs, and then assess this technology for effectiveness in comparison to usual care.

There is a tremendous global burden of mental illness: Over 50 million American adults have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and major depression on its own is the leading cause of disability worldwide. In the face of this burden, clinical research has documented a variety of effective EBPs (e.g. CBT), and these psychotherapies are utilized on a massive scale. Systems have invested over $2 billion in training providers in specific EBPs. Once trained, however, therapists' adherence to the EBP, also called fidelity, is both crucial for effectiveness and difficult to assess. There is no scalable method to assess the fidelity and quality of EBPs in community practice settings. This is a foundational problem for healthcare systems.

Advances in speech processing and machine learning make technology a promising solution to this problem. The use of technology - instead of humans - to evaluate EBPs means that objective, performance-based feedback can be provided quickly, efficiently, cost-effectively, and without human error. If successful, the present research will be among the first examples of a method for building, monitoring, and assessing the quality of therapy that can scale up to large, real-world healthcare settings.

In this study, the investigators will implement an existing, fully-functional prototype (LyssnCBT) that includes a user interface geared to community mental health (CMH) clinical, supervision, and administrative workflows and needs, and then assess for effectiveness of psychotherapy supported by LyssnCBT in comparison to usual care.

This study will implement LyssnCBT in 5 community mental health agencies, beginning with a single-arm pilot field trial to identify and address any specific barriers to implementing the tool in a community mental health context. The study team will then conduct a larger study in community mental health agencies comparing LyssnCBT to services as usual.


Stimulation-Induced Changes in Fronto-Limbic Network 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: March 1, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Epilepsy Monitoring Unit UAB Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, United States

The purpose of this research is to better understand how emotion processing unfolds in the brain using stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) and direct brain stimulation. This study will use standard behavioral emotion processing tasks combined with neural recording and direct brain stimulation to assess different aspects of emotion processing. Stimulation pulses during pre and post-test periods will assess the effects of stimulation before and after conditioning, the results of which will be combined with results from the activity of each electrode during the emotion tasks to inform us of the nature of emotion processing in the brain and allow us to devise brain modulation protocols in the future.


Perioperative Mental Health in Orthopedic Surgery 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: February 27, 2023
Eligibility: 60 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States

This Hybrid 1 Study will test the effectiveness of a bundled intervention comprised of behavioral activation and medication optimization in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in older adults undergoing Orthopedic surgery (compared with usual care), while examining implementation outcomes.


Factorial Optimization Trial to Test Effects of Coping Intervention Components 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: February 18, 2023
Eligibility: 9 Years to 12 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States

This study will identify components for inclusion in a coping intervention package to reduce mental health problems among children exposed to high interparental conflict after parental separation/divorce. Reappraisal, distraction, and relaxation coping strategies are related to fewer mental health problems among children, making intervention components based on these strategies key candidates for inclusion in an optimized coping intervention. The primary aim is to experimentally assess the main and interactive effects of three digital intervention coping components (reappraisal, distraction, relaxation) on children's coping efficacy, emotional security, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Secondary aims are to assess indirect effects of the intervention components on children's coping efficacy, emotional security, and internalizing and externalizing problems through their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to post-separation/divorce interparental conflict events.


Improving Mental Health Among the LGBTQ+ Community 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: January 25, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States

The overall aim of this program of research is to improve the mental health of people who identify as LGBTQ+ by increasing their social support through a brief intervention. The purpose of the proposed project is to establish the effectiveness of our empirically-supported, brief acceptance-based behavioral therapy (ABBT). To achieve the specific aims, the investigators will conduct a fully-powered, randomized clinical trial (n=240) with two treatment arms: treatment-as-usual (TAU) vs. ABBT.


Study of a PST-Trained Voice-Enabled Artificial Intelligence Counselor(SPEAC) for Adults With Emotional Distress (Phase 2) 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: January 23, 2023
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): UIMC Advanced Imaging Center, Chicago, Illinois, United States; Department of Medicine, Vitoux Program on Aging and Prevention, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Approximately 200 Participants with mild-to-moderate, untreated depression and/or anxiety will be randomly assigned (by chance, like flipping a coin) to 1 of 3 study groups: Lumen Coached Problem-Solving Treatment (PST) (n=100), Human Coached PST (n=50), and optional (delayed) Lumen Coached PST as waitlist control (n=50) to improve emotional health. All participants will complete assessments at baseline and at 18 weeks post randomization.

Depending on the group assignment the PST program will be delivered by Lumen, a virtual voice-based coach on a study iPad, or by a human coach in person for the first session and then via videoconference or phone for the remaining 7 sessions. Participants assigned to the waitlist control group can receive the Lumen coached PST on a study iPad after completing their 18-week follow-up assessment.

Participants will receive 8 coaching sessions to learn problem-solving skills and work on unresolved problems in daily living that may be interfering with their emotional well-being and contributing to depression and anxiety symptoms.


Behavioral Activation and Medication Optimization In Older Adults Undergoing Cardiac Procedures 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: November 5, 2022
Eligibility: 60 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States

This Hybrid 1 Study will test the effectiveness of a bundled intervention comprised of behavioral activation and medication optimization in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in older adults undergoing cardiac surgery (compared with usual care), while examining implementation outcomes.


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

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: November 2, 2022
Eligibility: 18 Years to 70 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States; The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States

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?"


A Dyadic Approach to Perinatal Depression in Primary Care: Maternal Infant and Dyadic Care 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: November 1, 2022
Eligibility: Females, 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Amritha Bhat, Seattle, Washington, United States

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a parenting intervention+usual care compared to usual care on postpartum depression and other mental health and parenting outcomes, as well as the feasibility and acceptability of the parenting intervention.


Computerized Intervention Targeting the Error-Related Negativity and Balance N1 in Anxious Children 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: October 12, 2022
Eligibility: 9 Years to 12 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): FSU Psychology Building, Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Anxiety disorders are the most common form of psychopathology, and frequently begin in childhood, resulting in lifelong impairment. Increased brain activity after making mistakes, as reflected by the error-related negativity (ERN), is observed in people with anxiety disorders, even before disorder onset. The ERN is therefore of great interest as a potentially modifiable risk factor for anxiety. However, methodological issues can make the ERN difficult to measure.

Increased brain activity in response to a balance disturbance, as reflected by the balance N1, resembles the ERN, but does not share its methodological issues. The investigators' preliminary data demonstrate that the balance N1 and the ERN are associated in amplitude in adults, suggesting they may depend on the same brain processes. The balance N1 has never been investigated in individuals with anxiety disorders, but it increases in amplitude within individuals under anxiety-inducing environmental contexts. Further, balance and anxiety are related in terms of brain anatomy, daily behavior, disorder presentation, and response to treatment.

The present investigation will measure the ERN and the balance N1 in children (ages 9-12) with anxiety disorders, and further, how these brain activity measures change in response to a brief, 45-minute, computerized psychosocial intervention that was developed to reduce reactivity to errors, and has been shown to reduce the ERN. The investigators will recruit approximately 80 children with anxiety disorders, half of whom will be randomly assigned to the active intervention condition. The other half will be assigned to an active control condition, consisting of a different 45-minute computerized presentation. Participants assigned to the control condition can access the computerized intervention after participation in the study.

The purpose of this investigation is to test the hypothesis that the balance N1 and the ERN will be reduced to a similar extent after the intervention, to demonstrate that these brain responses arise from shared brain processes. Transfer of the effect of the psycho-social intervention to the balance N1 would provide insight into prior work demonstrating that balance training can alleviate anxiety in young children, and well-documented benefits of psychotherapy to balance disorders. Collectively, these data may guide the development of multidisciplinary interventions for the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders in children.


Improving Adherence to Homework During Therapy 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: September 1, 2022
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States

The purpose of this study is to expand Adhere.ly- a simple, HIPAA-compliant, web-based platform to help therapists engage clients in practicing therapeutic skills between sessions (homework) during mental health treatment by conducting a trial comparing standard therapy to therapy enhanced with Adhere.ly.


Motivational Interviewing to Enhance Behavioral Change in Older Adults With Hoarding Disorder 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: June 1, 2022
Eligibility: 60 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, United States

This study will compare two behavioral interventions for hoarding disorder in older adults.


Multimodal Assessment of Cannabinoid Target Engagement in Adults With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: March 1, 2022
Eligibility: 21 Years to 55 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, United States

The purpose of this research study is to test how a medication called nabilone (Cesamet) affects neurocognitive processes involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including threat response, processing of fear signals, and habitual behavior. OCD is a disabling illness that affects around 2% of the population and involves recurrent intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (compulsions) that lead to distress and/or impaired functioning. Nabilone is a synthetic form of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the primary psychoactive component of the cannabis plant). It acts on the brain's endocannabinoid system, which has been hypothesized to play a role in OCD symptoms. Nabilone is approved by the FDA for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. It is not FDA-approved for treating OCD.

In this study, 60 adults with OCD will receive a single dose of either nabilone or placebo. Participants will then complete a series of assessments including neuroimaging, psychophysiology (e.g., skin conductance recording), computerized behavioral tasks, and self-report measures. The information gained from this study could contribute to the development of new treatments for people with OCD and related disorders.


Social Support and Reduced Fear Acquisition 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: February 9, 2022
Eligibility: 18 Years to 55 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): UCLA Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, California, United States

University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to prevent the acquisition of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders.

After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n =50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing fear acquisition procedures--the repeated pairing of a neutral image with a mild electric shock that ultimately leads to the association of threat of shock with the image--in the presence of an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) and an image of a smiling stranger.


Social Support and Enhanced Fear Extinction 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: February 1, 2022
Eligibility: 18 Years to 55 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): UCLA Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, California, United States

University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to enhance the extinction of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders.

After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n = 50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study, with an expected recruited 150 to reach this number. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing a fear extinction procedure in which threatening cues--cues that predict electric shock--will be paired with either an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) or an image of a smiling stranger. These pairings will be presented repeatedly in the absence of shock in order for fear extinction to occur. Participants will return for a follow-up test to determine if fear extinction was successful.


Connectomic Deep Brain Stimulation for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: August 13, 2021
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Mount Sinai West, New York, New York, United States

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective treatment for people suffering from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) whose symptoms have failed to improve after years and multiple methods of intervention. An effective DBS target for OCD is the anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC) brain region. On average 60% of all OCD patients have a clinically significant response to ALIC DBS. However, ALIC DBS may become even more effective with the ability to predict which specific ALIC connections in the brain need to be stimulated for each individual OCD patient. This study therefore investigates personalized stimulation to the ALIC that allows for precise modulation of brain circuits associated with individual OCD symptoms. The study aims to specify the ideal anatomical target for ALIC DBS for maximum therapeutic benefit in each patient.


Kidpower Camp - Structured Games or Playgroup 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: July 7, 2021
Eligibility: 48 Months to 71 Months, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States

Clinically significant anxiety affects 20% of preschoolers and can become chronic, leading to depression, substance abuse, school-drop out and even suicide. To reduce anxiety and prevent its sequelae, clinically affected children must be effectively treated early. Available interventions for clinically anxious preschoolers are effective for some, but not all children, with as many as 50% of 4-7 year olds continuing to meet criteria for an anxiety disorder after treatment.

This trial aims to help learn how Camp Kidpower, trainings using either structured games or a playgroup, may lower anxiety in preschool age children. Playing these games and learning that kids can do it, can teach kids how to keep going when they are feeling anxious. To find out if Kidpower works by helping kids stay in charge of their behaviors and emotions, the study will look at parts of the brain as well as behaviors related to effortful control and fear, before and after training.

The study hypothesizes that Kidpower will produce greater increases in Error-related negativity (ERN), Interchannel Phase Synchrony (ICPS) and effortful control (EC) behaviors than in the Playgroup control.


Modulating Anxious Coping 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: June 26, 2021
Eligibility: 18 Years to 65 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, United States

This is a study to find out if a device that temporarily alters brain activity (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) might be used to change how people with anxiety or related concerns cope with feared or anxiety-producing situations. The study is recruiting people who recently started treatment for anxiety or a related concern. The study involves 3 visits to the Medical University of South Carolina. At the first visit, participants do interviews and surveys asking about anxiety and related concerns, and they also do tasks where they see and react to emotional pictures while their brain activation is measured. At the next two visits, participants receive rTMS, which works by rapidly turning a focused magnetic field on and off repeatedly over the head in a way that passes directly through the hair, scalp, and skull and onto the brain and can temporarily increase brain activity under the magnetic field. After rTMS, participants do two tasks where they see and react to emotional situations while wearing sensors on their hand, arms, face, and head.

Each visit in this study is expected to last between 2 - 4 hours. This is not a treatment study, but the study is being conducted with the hope that it will help improve treatment in the future.


Improving Attentional and Cognitive Control in the Psychological Treatment of Intrusive Thoughts 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: April 30, 2021
Eligibility: 18 Years to 60 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The investigators are conducting this study to learn more about the cognitive and attentional processes among individuals with three types of repetitive negative thinking (RNT): mental rituals (as seen in obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD), worries (as seen in generalized anxiety disorder, GAD), and ruminations (as seen in major depressive disorder, MDD). Specifically, the investigators are studying whether psychological treatment can help people with RNT who have trouble stopping unwanted thoughts and shifting their attention.


Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Depression and Anxiety in Latin American College Students 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: March 1, 2021
Eligibility: 18 Years and Older, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Fundación Universitaria del Area Andina, Valledupar, Colombia; Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia; Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico; Universidad la Salle, León, Mexico; Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Mexico; Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico; Universidad Popular de Cesar, Valledupar, Colombia

The aim is to evaluate short term and longer term treatment effects of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy compared to treatment as usual for college students with anxiety and/or depression in low-middle income countries of Latin America.


Theta Burst Stimulation Plus Habit Override Training for Compulsive Behaviors 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: December 28, 2020
Eligibility: 18 Years to 60 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

This project seeks to identify causal neural mechanisms underlying unwanted, repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Using non-invasive brain stimulation coupled with practice in a computer task, we will modulate activity in a target brain region and measure effects on compulsive behaviors and related measures. This work could ultimately lead to the ability to treat compulsions more effectively by targeting the regions of the brain that can help or hinder attempts to overcome compulsions.


Approach-Avoidance, Computational Framework for Predicting Behavioral Therapy Outcome (AAC-BeT) 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: September 11, 2020
Eligibility: 18 Years to 65 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

Depression and anxiety disorders rank in the top ten causes of years lived with disability. Less than 50% of patients experiencing long-lasting improvements to current gold-standard treatments. Two gold-standard behavioral interventions include behavioral activation, focused on enhancing approach behavior towards meaningful activities, and exposure-based therapy, focused on decreasing avoidance and challenging negative expectations. While these interventions have divergent treatment targets, there is little knowledge to inform which strategies should be used in the frequent case of comorbid anxiety and depression. Approach-avoidance decision-making paradigms focus on assessing responses when faced with potential rewards and threats, tapping into processes important for both anxiety and depression as well as behavioral activation and exposure-based therapy.

For this study, investigators will recruit individuals reporting both anxiety and depression symptoms and randomize them to one of three different interventions: (1) behavioral activation, (2) exposure-based therapy, and a non-specific therapy approach (3) supportive therapy. Participants will complete clinical, self-report, behavioral, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessments before and after therapy. Investigators will use a computational approach to model factors that may influence one's behavior during approach-avoidance decision-making, including drives to avoid threat versus approach reward and confidence versus uncertainty in one's decisions.

This project will accomplish the following aims (1) Determine how changes in brain and behavior responses during approach-avoidance conflict relate to changes in mental health symptoms with the different therapy approaches, (2) Determine the degree to which baseline brain and behavior responses during approach-avoidance conflict predict response to the different therapy approaches, above and beyond the influence of demographics and baseline symptom severity. In addition, by including peripheral blood draws and measures of grace matter volume, the project will also accomplish the following aims: (1) Determine whether kynrenine metabolites measures peripherally may be beneficial as a biomarker of treatment response and (2) determine whether there is an association between change in kynurenine metabolites and changes in gray matter volume with treatment.

Results will enhance understanding of how different psychotherapy approaches (behavioral activation, exposure-based therapy) may impact brain responses and decisions when faces with potential reward versus threat and approach versus avoidance drives. In addition, results will have important implications concerning the potential for a more personalized approach to psychotherapy, enhancing knowledge of which types of therapy strategies may be most beneficial for which individuals.


Designing an Implementation Strategy for Delivering Routine Mental Health Screening and Treatment 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: August 12, 2020
Eligibility: 16 Years to 30 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

African Americans living with chronic health conditions are more likely to experience depression and other mental health disorders than their healthy counterparts, and are more likely to experience severe depression than whites, but less likely to be diagnosed or receive treatment. One especially vulnerable group is patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), a genetic blood disorder that primarily affects people of African descent, many of whom live in disadvantaged circumstances and are cared for in under-resourced settings. SCD causes severe acute and chronic pain, end-organ damage, and early mortality. Patients transitioning from adolescence to adulthood (ages16-30) are at high risk for mental health disorders and suicide.

Using mobile technology, the investigators can provide high-quality, evidence-based behavioral mental health treatment that reaches patients in different settings. Digital cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for treating depression and anxiety and can be brought to scale at low cost. Despite the promise of digital CBT, there are barriers to its widespread use, particularly in low-resource settings serving minorities. Qualitative data show that cultural factors-lack of relatability, representation, and perceived stigma regarding mental health treatment-limit engagement with digital CBT programs. Population-and setting-specific adaptations to interventions can lead to their successful implementation and wider use. The investigators will work with a digital CBT program to decrease stigma and make it more relatable and relevant to young adults with SCD, by devising changes to advertising and promotion, and tailoring communication with an integrated health coach, Aim 1: Use implementation science (ImS) and human-centered design methods to define the barriers to delivering routine mental health screening and digital CBT to adolescents and young adults with SCD. Aim 2: Rapidly iterate, test, and evaluate adaptations to the implementation strategy for a coach-enhanced digital mental health service. Aim 3: Demonstrate that a population-specific implementation strategy improves engagement with a digital CBT-based mental health service.

The investigators will capitalize on our mobile technology tools, interdisciplinary expertise, and community-based partnerships to investigate the implementation of digital CBT into low-resource clinics and community-based organizations serving adolescents and adults with sickle cell disease.


Brain Network Changes Accompanying and Predicting Responses to Pharmacotherapy in OCD 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: October 14, 2019
Eligibility: 18 Years to 65 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Yale OCD Research Clinic - CMHC/CNRU, 34 Park ST, New Haven, Connecticut, United States

The proposed randomized, double-blind research study will use functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging using state-of-the-art HCP acquisition protocols and analytic pipelines, to identify predictors and correlates of response to an accepted first-line pharmacological treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder.


Efficacy of Psilocybin in OCD: a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: November 13, 2018
Eligibility: 21 Years to 65 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, Connecticut, United States

This study aims to investigate the effects of oral psilocybin on OCD symptomatology and provide the first evidence of the neural mechanism that may mediate psilocybin's purported therapeutic effects on OCD.


Development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques for Studying Mood and Anxiety Disorders 

Study Type: Observational
Start Date: December 6, 2006
Eligibility: 18 Years to 65 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, United States

This study is intended to help develop new MRI imaging techniques for studying mood and anxiety disorders. Researchers believe that depression and anxiety disorders may cause structural and functional changes in the brain. This study will optimize the way MRI scans are collected to look at brain structure and examine how the brain behaves while subjects perform particular tasks.

Healthy normal subjects between 18 and 50 years of age who have never had a major psychiatric disorder and who have no first-degree relatives with mood disorders may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened by phone with questions about their psychiatric and medical history, current emotional state and sleep pattern, and family history of psychiatric disorders. Candidates who pass the preliminary screening then undergo additional screening interviews and laboratory tests.

Participants undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological testing, as follows:

"<TAB>MRI scans: Subjects are asked to participate in an MRI study on one of several scanners to measure blood flow in the brain, concentrations of certain chemicals in the brain, or magnetic properties of the brain. MRI uses a strong magnet and radio waves to obtain pictures of the brain. The subject lies still on a narrow bed with a metal coil close to the head. For this study, subjects may be asked to wear a special coil on the neck to help measure blood flow. They may be asked to watch a screen presenting images or to do a task in which they respond to pictures or sounds and may be asked to return for additional scans.

"<TAB>Neuropsychological testing: Subjects may undergo tests of cognitive performance. Often, people with mood disorders have subtle changes in performance on these tests that allow researchers to pinpoint where brain abnormalities occur. Before the tests can be used in patients, they must be validated by using healthy subjects. These tests are presented either orally, in written form, or on a computer.


Physiological Brain Atlas Development 

Study Type: Observational
Start Date: August 31, 2006
Eligibility: 6 Years to 90 Years, Does Not Accept Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): Vanderbilt Univeristy, Nashville, Tennessee, United States

The NIH grant has funded the development of a physiological brain atlas registry that will allow us to significantly improve the data collectioin and use of physiological data into a normalized brain volume. This initially was used to improve DBS implants for Parkinson's Disease, Dystonia, Essential Tremor, and OCD, but now includes data acquired during all stereotactic brain procedures.


Study of Neuro-Cognitive Correlates of Pediatric Anxiety Disorders 

Study Type: Interventional
Start Date: October 2, 2001
Eligibility: 8 Years to 65 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Study Description:

This study examines relations between neurocognitive and clinical features of pediatric anxiety disorders. The study uses neuro-cognitive tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as well as magneto- and electro-encephalography (M/EEG). Patients will be studied over one year, before and after receiving either one of two standard-of-care treatments: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or fluoxetine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Healthy comparisons will be studied at comparable time points.

Primary Objectives:

To compare healthy youth and symptomatic, medication-free pediatric patients studied prior to receipt of treatment. The study seeks to detect relations between clinical features of anxiety disorders at baseline and a wide range of neurocognitive features associated with attention, memory, and response to motivational stimuli.

Secondary Objectives:

To document relations between baseline neurocognitive features and response to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or fluoxetine, as defined by the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) and Clinical Global Improvement (CGI) Scale. To document relations between post-treatment changes in neurocognitive features and anxiety symptoms on the PARS following treatment with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or fluoxetine. To document relations among broad arrays of clinical, cognitive, and neural measures

Primary Endpoints:

Indices of percent-signal change in hypothesized brain regions, comprising amygdala, striatum, and prefrontal cortex (PFC) for each fMRI and MEG paradigm.

Secondary Endpoints:

Treatment-response as defined by a continuous measure, the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale score (PARS), and a categorial measure, the Clinical Global Improvement (CGI) score. Levels of symptoms and behaviors evoked by tasks that engage attention, memory, and elicit responses to motivational stimuli.


Evaluation of Patients With Mood and Anxiety Disorders and Healthy Volunteers 

Study Type: Observational
Start Date: February 2, 2001
Eligibility: 3 Years to 99 Years, Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Location(s): National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, United States

The purpose of this protocol is to allow for the careful screening of patients and healthy volunteers for participation in research protocols in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Lab (ETPB) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and for the collection of natural history data. In addition the protocol will allow clinicians to gain more experience in the use of a variety of polysomnographic and high-density EEG recordings. Subjects in this protocol will undergo an evaluation which may include: a psychiatric interview; a diagnostic interview; rating scales; a medical history; a physical exam; brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); electroencephalography (EEG); electrocardiography (EKG), magnetoencephalography (MEG); blood, saliva and urine laboratory evaluation; and a request for medical records. Subjects may also be asked to complete questionnaires about attitudes towards research and motivation for research participation. The data collected may also be linked with data from other mood and anxiety disorder protocols (e.g., brain imaging, DNA, psychophysiology tests, treatment studies, etc) for the purposes of better understanding the diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment response of patients with mood disorders. Parents of minors will be interviewed. Upon conclusion of the screening process, subjects will either be offered participation in a research protocol and will sign the appropriate informed consent, or will be considered not appropriate for participation in research and will be referred back into the community. The current protocol thus serves as an entry point for individuals with mood or anxiety disorders or healthy volunteers to enter NIMH IRB approved ETPB protocols.