Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Extinction in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Yale University
- Where
- New Haven, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 180 people, planned
- Started
- 12 Sept 2025
- Expected to end
- 1 Aug 2029
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Active transcranial direct current stimulation
- Sham transcranial direct current stimulation
- Record updated
- 23 July 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 70 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Can take part
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 4 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- All Participant Inclusion Criteria would include:; 18 years of age or older; speak English fluently, and; able to provide written and verbal informed consent
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Inclusion Criteria would include:; meet criteria for OCD as determined by structured clinical interview; exhibit significant current symptoms of OCD; report duration of OCD symptoms of at least 1-year; OCD symptoms are primary or co-primary relative to other psychiatric diagnoses; stable psychiatric treatment (≥8-weeks) or no active treatment; exhibit significant current symptoms of OCD as determined by the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS) (≥18)
Who cannot take part
- All Participant Exclusion Criteria would include:; active severe substance use disorder(s); acute suicidality; history of bipolar or psychotic disorder(s); significant developmental disabilities; loss of consciousness > 10 minutes; history of traumatic brain injury; major neurological disease; a positive pregnancy test; other brain stimulation or magnetic resonance imaging contraindications; new psychological treatment within the past 8 weeks; daily anxiolytic medication use (e.g., benzodiazepine)
- Non-Clinical Control Exclusion Criteria would include:; meet current criteria for a psychiatric disorder as determined by structured clinical interview; active-psychotropic medications
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 70 years old?
Where in United States
- Temple Medical CenterNew Haven, United StatesContact: Ava Reker, B.A.Taking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with substantial impairments in quality of life and is among the most disabling psychiatric disorders. Exposure therapy is among the first-line of treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) . Extinction learning is thought to be a core mechanism of therapeutic exposure. Fear and safety signal learning are traditionally associated with activity and connectivity within the canonical corticolimbic "fear circuit", which includes the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and hippocampus. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technology that can augment brain plasticity, learning, and memory. The proposed study will test if obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with inhibitory safety learning deficits and if transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) normalizes functional connectivity and safety signal processing to recover extinction deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
The 2 groups in the trial
- Active transcranial direct current stimulationExisting treatment, for comparison
Current will be ramped in/out for 30 seconds at the beginning and end of a 20-minute period and a constant current will be delivered for the 20-minutes between ramping.
- Sham transcranial direct current stimulationSham treatment, for comparison
Current will be ramped in and out for 30 seconds followed by a 20-minute period during which no stimulation will be delivered.
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
- Characterization and Modulation of Functional Connectivity and Fear Extinction Abnormalities in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT06834217, who can take part
- Record updated
- 23 July 2026