Modulating Anxious Coping
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Medical University of South Carolina
- Where
- Charleston, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 80 people, planned
- Started
- 26 Jun 2021
- Expected to end
- 30 Dec 2026
- Type of study
- Interventional
- Treatments tested
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
- Record updated
- 5 November 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 65 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
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Who can take part
- 18 - 65 y.o
- Meets criteria for an anxiety disorder (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Specific Phobia), posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive- compulsive disorder, or current adjustment disorder with anxiety
- Is currently seeking mental health treatment
- Is able to read consent document and provide informed consent
- English is a first or primary fluent language
Who cannot take part
- Currently taking anticholinergic mediation, neuroleptic medication, or sedative/ hypnotic medication Note: SSRI, cholinesterase inhibitors or NMDA receptor antagonists are allowed if patient has been on a stable regimen of four weeks prior to enrollment
- Currently taking chronic opiate medications or substances
- Currently taking naltrexone
- Current alcohol or substance use disorder of more than mild severity (as defined by DSM-5 and determined using standardized self-report instruments)
- Lifetime diagnosis of psychotic disorder or bipolar mania
- Presence of neurological disorder that contraindicates TMS or neurophysiological recording: Seizure disorder Lifetime history of traumatic brain injury with loss of consciousness Neurodegenerative disorder (e.g., Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia)
- Presence of other medical disorder that would make it too uncomfortable to sit or lie still for long recording periods
- Presence of standard contraindications for MRI or rTMS Metal in the body Currently pregnant Claustrophobia Significant sensitivity to noise Medical conditions or treatments that lower seizure threshold History of severe brain injury History of seizures/ epilepsy
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 18 and 65 years old?
Where in United States
- Medical University of South CarolinaCharleston, United StatesContact: Christopher T SegeTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
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.
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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.
The group in the trial
- Neurostimulation GroupTreatment being tested
On one study day, participants will complete experimental tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging. On two other study days, participants will complete tasks before and after receiving repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). All participants will receive rTMS to ventromedial prefrontal cortex on one study day, and to pre-supplementary motor area on another study day. Two stimulation procedures will be used, one for ventromedial prefrontal cortex and one for pre-supplementary motor area. For both targets, 3 sessions of 600 pulses at 110% of resting motor threshold will be presented over 30 minutes. For ventromedial cortex, a session will involve intermittent theta burst triplets at 50 Hz for 2 seconds and repeated every 10 seconds for a total of 190 seconds. For pre-supplementary motor area, a session will involve continuous theta burst presented in 3-pulse bursts with 15 pulses/ sec.
Treatment: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Modeling and Modulating Mechanisms of Escape, Avoidance, and Approach in the Anxiety Disorder Spectrum
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT04824105, who can take part
- Record updated
- 5 November 2026