Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: May 26, 2021
Date Accepted: Jul 29, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 12, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Using Electronically Delivered Therapy and Brain Imaging to Understand OCD Pathophysiology: Pilot Protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating and prevalent anxiety disorder. While the basal ganglia and frontal cortex are the most hypothesized brain regions involved, the exact pathophysiology is unknown. By observing the effects of proven treatments on brain activation levels, the cause of OCD can be better understood. Currently, the gold standard treatment for OCD is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with exposure and response prevention (ERP). However, this is often temporally and geographically inaccessible, time-consuming, and costly. Fortunately, CBT can be effectively delivered using the internet (e-CBT) due to its structured nature thus addressing these barriers.
Objective:
This study will implement an e-CBT program for OCD and observe its effects on brain activation levels using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). It is hypothesized that brain activation levels in the basal ganglia and frontal cortex will decrease following treatment.
Methods:
Individuals with OCD will be offered a 16-week e-CBT program with ERP mirroring in-person CBT content that will be administered through a secure online platform. Efficacy of treatment will be evaluated using clinically validated symptomology questionnaires at baseline, week 8, and post-treatment (week 16). Using fMRI at baseline and post-treatment, brain activation levels will be assessed at resting state, and while exposed to anxiety-inducing images (i.e., dirty dishes if cleanliness is an obsession). The effects of treatment on brain activation levels and the correlation between symptom changes and activation levels will be analyzed.
Results:
The study received initial ethics approval in December 2020 and participant recruitment began in January 2021. Participant recruitment has been conducted through social media advertisements, physical advertisements, and physician referrals. To date, there have been 5 participants recruited. Data collection is expected to conclude by January 2022, and data analysis is expected to be completed by February 2022.
Conclusions:
The findings from this study can further our understanding of the causation of OCD, helping to develop more effective treatments for this disorder. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04630197; clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04630197
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