NCT02671266

Oxytocin Administration in BDD and OCD

Effect of Intranasal Oxytocin on Social Cognition

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 41 (actual)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effect of an acute administration of intranasal oxytocin, relative to placebo, on social cognitive impairments among individuals with body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, compared to healthy controls.

Detailed description

Despite the development of efficacious pharmacologic and psychological treatments body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), treatment outcome data suggest that there is still considerable room for improvement. A closer examination of biological mechanisms underlying psychopathology may help uncover mechanisms to target during intervention and thereby provide a novel approach to treatment. Given that the neuropeptide, oxytocin, is involved in the regulation of a variety of social and cognitive dimensions, including emotion recognition and social attentional processing, there are direct implications regarding its role in the development of such deficits among individuals with BDD. The current study therefore aims to investigate the effect of oxytocin administration on social cognitive impairments in BDD and a related disorder, OCD. Twenty treatment-seeking male and female outpatients with BDD, 20 individuals with OCD, and 20 healthy participants will be assigned to receive an oxytocin and placebo nasal spray one week apart. During each visit, subjects will complete a series of tasks to measure emotion recognition, attentional biases, interpretive biases, and trust behavior. Importantly, these findings may show that a single administration of oxytocin may alter social cognitive processes thought to maintain BDD, and ultimately inform treatments for BDD.

Conditions

• Body Dysmorphic Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Oxytocin	Oxytocin nasal sprays will be self-administered in the presence of a study nurse. The dose is 24 IU (3 puffs per nostril, 4 IU per puff) of Syntocinon nasal spray.
DRUG	Placebo	Placebo nasal sprays will be self-administered in the presence of a study nurse. The sprays will contain all of the same ingredients as the Syntocinon spray minus the active oxytocin ingredient.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-12-01
• Primary completion: 2017-10-01
• Completion: 2017-10-01
• First posted: 2016-02-02
• Last updated: 2018-11-23
• Results posted: 2018-11-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States