NCT06123702

Cannabidiol Effects on Fear Extinction in Social Phobia

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: EARLY_Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Hartford Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The investigators will randomly assign participants with social anxiety disorder to receive oral cannabidiol (CBD) or placebo. Participants will undergo a fear conditioning and extinction trial, and the investigators will examine whether CBD increases the degree of fear reduction during extinction.

Detailed description

This will be a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of cannabidiol (CBD) vs. placebo for potentiating fear extinction in adult outpatients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). After providing written informed consent and passing medical screening, participants will be assessed for SAD and other mental health concerns. They will then engage in a fear conditioning paradigm in which an electrical stimulation is applied to the wrist that is aversive but not painful (at a level determined by each participant) paired with pictures of angry faces. Following the fear conditioning paradigm, they will receive orally administered CBD or placebo. They will then undergo a fear extinction phase in which the conditioned angry faces are shown repeatedly with no further electrical stimulus. Fear toward the conditioned faces following extinction will be measured using galvanic skin response (GSR) and a visual analog scale of self-reported fear. The investigators predict that CBD, compared to placebo, will result in lower GSR and self-reported fear ratings.

Conditions

• Social Anxiety Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Fear extinction	Extinction of conditioned fear response
DRUG	Cannabidiol Cap/Tab	12 50-mg capsules
DRUG	Placebo	12 placebo capsules

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-04-30
• Primary completion: 2024-12-31
• Completion: 2024-12-31
• First posted: 2023-11-09
• Last updated: 2024-04-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States

Regulatory

• FDA-regulated drug study