Light Therapy for Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) (KLTO)

Light Therapy for Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: A Circadian Medicine Approach

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether light therapy is effective for reducing symptoms in young adults with OCD and late bedtimes (1am or later). The main question[s] it aims to answer are:

Does light therapy reduce OCD symptoms? Does light therapy advance the circadian clock? If there is a comparison group: Researchers will compare a higher dose of light therapy to a lower dose to see if dose amount affects symptom reduction.

Participants will asked to:

1. Wear light therapy glasses for 1 hour each morning and complete a daily light therapy log for 5 weeks
2. Track their sleep every day with a wearable monitor and an electronic sleep diary for 5 weeks
3. Complete a 1-time assessment of sensitivity to light exposure
4. Complete self-report measures of OCD 4 times/day at baseline (2 weeks), mid-treatment (1 week), and end of treatment (1 week)

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: OCD
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Light therapy

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 40
• Phase: Early Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Rebecca Cox, BA; Phone Number: 314-935-8111; Email: scraplab@wustl.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Missouri
    • St. Louis, Missouri, United States, 63130
      • Recruiting
      • Washington University
      • Contact: Rebecca Cox, PhD; Phone Number: 314-935-8111; Email: cox.r@wustl.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Rebecca Cox

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Primary DSM-5 OCD diagnosis
2. Bedtime 0100 or later
3. Age 18-35
4. English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Subjects must not be currently participating in another research study that would influence their participation in our study.
2. Diagnostic status
3. Treatment status
4. Night shift work or travel more than 1 time zone outside of Central Standard Time (CST) in the past month
5. Pregnancy status
6. Medication status
7. Regular nicotine or marijuana use

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Higher dose; Participants will be given wearable light therapy devices that emit a higher light intensity.	Behavioral: Light therapy; 5 weeks of light therapy administered via wearable light therapy glasses worn for 1 hour each morning after awakening.
Sham Comparator: Lower dose; Participants will be given wearable light therapy devices that emit a lower light intensity.	Behavioral: Light therapy; 5 weeks of light therapy administered via wearable light therapy glasses worn for 1 hour each morning after awakening.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS)	A retrospective clinical interview of OCD symptom severity. Score range from 0 to 40 and higher scores indicate more severe OCD symptoms.	Administered at baseline, in treatment week 3, and post-treatment (3 administrations over 7 weeks)
Daily Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire	Self-report measure of momentary transdiagnostic repetitive negative thinking. Score range from 6 to 42 and higher scores indicate more severe repetitive negative thinking.	Administered 4 times/day for 2 weeks at baseline, 4 times/day for 1 week in treatment week 3, and 4 times/day for 1 week in treatment week 5

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Circadian melatonin phase	Dim light melatonin onset assessed by taking hourly saliva samples in dim light conditions for 10 hours beginning 7 hours before typical bedtime and ending 2 hours after typical bedtime.	At baseline and post-treatment (after 5 weeks of treament)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Rebecca Cox, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 16, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 21, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): December 6, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 14, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: sleep; circadian; light therapy; behavioral treatment; ocd
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Personality Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; Compulsive Personality Disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: K23MH137376 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No