Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in a Clinical Sample of OCD Patients

September 4, 2018 updated by: Dr. Neil Rector, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

A Pilot Randomized Trial Testing Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in a Clinical Sample of OCD Patients

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating disorder known to have reported lifetime prevalence in the range of 2%. OCD is most commonly treated with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and/or pharmacotherapy. However, some studies suggest challenges with CBT in retaining gains long term, and while 60-80% of OCD patients respond to SRI treatment, partial symptom reduction is substantial. Investigations into the effectiveness of alternative, cost-effective treatment modalities are thus needed. Mindfulness, defined as paying attention in a particular way (on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally), promotes awareness and attention to internal experience and has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. A number of controlled studies have found Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to be effective for depression, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, but few have tested its effect on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Moreover, those studies examining MBCT in OCD focused on clinical case studies and non-clinical samples. This study proposes to examine the effect of MBCT in clinical practice, in a randomized sample of patients with OCD whom are on a clinic wait list. As patients are allocated to the wait list, they will be randomly assigned to receive either 10 weeks of group MBCT or wait list as per usual. It is hypothesized that subjects randomly assigned to the MBCT treatment group, compared to those in the wait list control group, will see greater reductions in self-reported measures of OCD symptom severity and improvement in other measures of mindfulness, mood and level of functioning. The results of this pilot study, if successful, will provide evidence towards another route by which patients can improve their OCD while waiting for clinic services or consultation. Results will also lend more evidence as to whether MBCT is effective as a stand-alone treatment for clinical OCD, which will inform further investigations into the potential addition of mindfulness techniques to standard care.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
32

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N 3M5
        • The Frederick W. Thompson Anxiety Disorders Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Referred for treatment services at the Frederick W. Thompson Anxiety Disorder Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
  • Primary Diagnosis of OCD
  • Ability to communicate in written and spoken English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Those with active substance abuse/dependence within 3 months
  • Suspected organic pathology
  • Recent suicide attempt/active suicidality
  • Current self-injurious behaviour
  • Active bipolar or psychotic disorder
  • Previous completion of an MBCT course (≥ 8 weeks)
  • Previous completion of an OCD-specific course of CBT (≥ 8 weeks)
  • Previous completion of a general course of CBT (≥ 8 weeks) in the past 3 years

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
MBCT will be delivered in ten 2.5 hour group sessions with 15 participants per group.
Behavioral: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
MBCT teaches patients to become more aware of, and to relate differently to, their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. Through MBCT, patients will learn skills that allow them to disengage from habitual ("automatic") dysfunctional cognitive routines, such as obsessional thinking. As an example, patients are encouraged to relate to thoughts and feelings as passing events in the mind, rather than to identify with them or treat them as accurate representations of reality. The MBCT protocol for OCD patients is adapted from Segal et al.'s original MBCT manual for depression (Segal, Williams & Teasdale, 2002).
No Intervention: Waitlist
Wait list as per usual.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Symptom Severity from Baseline in OCD Measures
Time Frame: 10 weeks
OCD measures will include: a self-report version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS-SR), the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory -Revised (OCI-R), consisting of six subscales (Washing, Checking, Ordering, Obsessing, Hoarding and Neutralising), and the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-44 (OBQ-44), a measure of three OCD-related belief domains (Perfectionism/Certainty, Importance/Control of thoughts, and Responsibility/Threat estimation)
10 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Level of Impairment from Baseline
Time Frame: 10 weeks
The Sheehan Disability Scale will be used to measure level of functional impairment in three inter-related domains (work/school, social and family life).
10 weeks
Change in Mood from Baseline
Time Frame: 10 weeks
The Beck Depression Inventory -II (BDI-II), will be used to assess depression severity.
10 weeks
Change in Mindfulness from Baseline
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Mindfulness measures include: The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), used to measure the five constructs central to mindfulness (Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Non-judgment of Inner Experience, and Non-reactivity to Inner Experience), and the the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF) measuring 6 components of self-compassion (Self-Kindness, Self-Judgment, Common Humanity, Isolation, Mindfulness & Over-Identification).
10 weeks
Retention of Gains at Follow-up
Time Frame: 16 weeks
All self-report measures will be re-administered at 6-week follow-up to measure robustness of gains post-treatment.
16 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
September 28, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
August 13, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 13, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 15, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 6, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 4, 2018

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
September 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 138-2014

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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