Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT00126282

A Medication Trial Combined With Behavior Therapy for Individuals With Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

This study examines the efficacy of the medication D-Cycloserine in the reduction of obsessions and compulsions in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). All study participants will receive Exposure and Response Prevention, a common form of behavior therapy for individuals with OCD. Half (50%) of the participants will be randomly assigned to the placebo condition and the other half (50%) will be randomly assigned to receive D-Cycloserine. Because all participants will receive 10 sessions of behavior therapy, all participants are expected to improve from this treatment.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Anxiety Disorders Mental Disorders

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Anxiety Disorders Center, The Institute of Living, Hartford, Connecticut, United States

Loading trial locations.

About this study

The study consists of Behavior Therapy (Exposure and Response Prevention; ERP) for OCD. Specifically, it involves exposure to anxiety-provoking situations and response-prevention of any rituals. ERP has shown to be effective for many individuals with OCD.

All assessments and treatment sessions are at no cost to the patients. 50% of the patients will randomly be assigned to the D-Cycloserine (DCS) condition, and 50% of the patients will be assigned to a placebo condition. D-Cycloserine is FDA-approved for the treatment of Tuberculosis. However, recent research in other anxiety disorders has shown that D-Cycloserine plus Behavior Therapy is more effective than Behavior Therapy alone.

This treatment study has two active conditions. That is, all patients will receive Behavior Therapy and we do expect that everybody will improve from this treatment. However, it may be that those patients in the DCS condition will improve somewhat more than those in the placebo condition.

The treatment will be structured with homework and repeated assessments every 4 weeks. Assessments are extremely important as they guide the treatment and provide the study investigators necessary information about the treatment. The treatment consists of 10 sessions (twice a week) plus post-treatment and follow-up assessments at 1 and 6 months.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Meets diagnosis for obsessive-compulsive disorder

Exclusion criteria

  • History of psychotic disorders
  • History of neurological disorders
  • History of bipolar disorders

Treatment and study plan

Behavior Therapy

Behavioral

D-cycloserine

Drug

Primary outcomes

  1. significant reduction of OCD symptoms after the completion of treatment

Secondary outcomes

  1. significant reduction of depressive symptoms after the completion of treatment

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Other

Registry information

Official study title

A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Medication Trial With D-Cycloserine for Individuals With Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Currently Receiving Behavior Therapy

Important dates

Study start
2003
Study completion
2007
First posted
Aug 3, 2005
Registry last updated
Jul 29, 2009

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.