Body Dysmorphic Disorders, Illness Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Conditions
Keywords
Caloric Vestibular Stimulation, Insight
Brief summary
This study investigates whether caloric vestibular stimulation can modulate a measure of insight in obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders.
Detailed description
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRD), including obsessive compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, are chronic and disabling conditions characterized by recurrent intrusive thoughts and associated compulsive behaviors that affect millions of individuals in the US each year. Individuals affected by OCRD differ in insight, or the degree to which they understand their intrusive thoughts to reflect illness. Impairments in insight limit individuals' motivation to engage in care and predict worse outcome in those who access treatment. This study seeks to explore whether unilateral stimulation of the vestibular system, which activates cortical areas hypothesized to underlie clinical insight, may beneficially modulate insight in individuals with OCRD.
Interventions
Cold water creates a convection current in the semicircular canal of the vestibular apparatus, leading to brief (\<3 min) and typically well tolerated sense of rotational movement. Similar stimulation is routinely used in standard vestibular diagnostic testing.
Sponsors
Stanford University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Intervention model description
randomized, controlled crossover study
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Age 18-65 * Primary diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Illness Anxiety Disorder or Somatic Symptom Disorder (excluding "with predominant pain") * Strongly held OCRD-related concerns meeting BABS score criterion. * No recent change in psychopharmacological treatment, if any * Capacity to provide informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* Psychiatric or medical conditions (eg, vertigo, history of otological surgery) that might make participation unsafe * Pregnant or nursing women * Active or recent substance use
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| change in clinical insight as measured by the Brown Assessment of Beliefs (BABS). | 1 hour | Changes in clinical insight will be rated using the BABS, a gold-standard measure for assessing multiple dimensions of clinical insight across psychiatric disorders. The BABS is a 24 point scale for which scores ≥13 suggest poor or absent insight. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTPavithra Mukunda, MS
CONTACTMaria Filippou-Frye, MD, MBS
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORPeter J van Roessel, MD, PhD
Stanford University
Outcome results
None listed