NCT05224414

Interpretation Bias as a Mechanism of Treatment Response in OCD

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 106 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Mclean Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study will conduct a randomized controlled trial of Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) as an augmentation to treatment as usual for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). CBM-I is a digital intervention designed to directly manipulate interpretation bias through repeated practice on a training task, thereby inducing cognitive changes in a relatively automatic or implicit manner. Specifically, this study will examine the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes associated with CBM-I. Adults with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) will be recruited from a treatment program for this disorder and participants will be randomly assigned to either receive: 1) up to 12 sessions of CBM-I, or or up to 12 sessions of psychoeducation as a control condition.

Conditions

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive bias modification for interpretation bias	Sessions of scenario-based CBM-I training for OCD will be administered, based on the widely-used paradigm of ambiguous scenario training developed by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000), in which participants are presented with scenarios that are ambiguous in whether or not they are threatening. Participants will complete a computer task consisting of a series of written scenarios designed to improve interpretation and attributional biases; these scenarios conclude with word fragments, which participants must fill in to resolve the ambiguity.
BEHAVIORAL	Psychoeducation	Sessions of psychoeducation will be administered, which will describe symptoms of anxiety, the nature of biased thinking in anxiety, and summarize common psychosocial as well as pharmacological treatments for anxiety. The sessions will provide relevant information but will not provide training in changing thinking styles.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-03-30
• Primary completion: 2026-08-31
• Completion: 2026-08-31
• First posted: 2022-02-04
• Last updated: 2025-05-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States