Attention Training for Childhood Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

In brief

Voluntary and involuntary attention processes are thought to play an important role in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders including OCD. Individuals with OCD pay greater attention to threat information related to their illness and have difficulty shifting their attention from such triggers. Studies suggest that a change in attention bias may lead to a change in anxiety vulnerability. However, few studies have directly examined the causal role of attention bias in the maintenance of anxiety underlying OCD and whether modification of such biases may reduce pathological anxiety symptoms particularly in children. In this proposal, we aim to translate basic findings from research on cognitive biases in anxiety into a novel computerized intervention for child Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The treatment is designed to target a basic cognitive vulnerability in OCD, namely the selective processing of threatening OCD-related information. 52 children with OCD will be randomly assigned to either a 12-session attention modification program (AMP) or an attention control condition (ACC). Clinical assessment of symptom severity along with a brief neurocognitive battery will be conducted before and after treatment. We hypothesize that children in the AMP group at end of treatment will show (1) decreased attention bias to OCD-related triggers using an independent measure of attention bias to assess change and (b) reduced OCD severity. This study is an initial step towards demonstrating the feasibility and efficacy of a novel computerized attention training program for OCD that ultimately may prove to be a highly transportable and accessible intervention for this childhood psychiatric disorder. Furthermore, the project will also examine neurocognitive performance before and after attention training to elucidate possible predictors and mechanisms of treatment response.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02114918

Run by

University of California, Los Angeles

People needed

47

Starts

2013-04-01

Expected to finish

2016-05-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-01-16

Who can join

Age: 8 and older, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 8-17 (inclusive) at the time of initial evaluation
• Subject meets Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria for OCD.
• Unmedicated or on stable medication treatment for anxiety, OCD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, tics, and/or depressive disorder for at least 6 weeks prior to study entry, with no planned changes for duration of study participation.
• Child is fluent English speaker.
• Parental informed consent and child informed assent must be completed. Parents must agree to their child's participation in this protocol.

You may not qualify if…

• Intelligence Quotient < 80 on Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI).
• Excessive or problematic substance use as reported per initial telephone screening, or DSM-IV Conduct Disorder within the past 3 months.
• Subject has a lifetime DSM-IV diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder, Mania, or Psychotic Disorder.
• Subject has any serious psychiatric, psychosocial, or neurological condition (i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety, anxiety, severe aggression, family discord) requiring immediate treatment other than that provided in the current study.

Where it is running

• UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior — Los Angeles, California, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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