Feasibility of Modulating Cognitive Control in OCD

May 22, 2026 updated by: Sarah.L.Garnaat, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Evaluating Frontal Pole as a Window to Modulation of Cognitive Control in OCD

This study tests out procedures to look at whether a type of brain stimulation called transcranial magnetic stimulation impacts flexible shifts in behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study examines whether study procedures are feasible and acceptable to people participating in the study, but does not determine whether this type of brain stimulation causes changes.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

12

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Current primary DSM-5 OCD diagnosis and current Y-BOCS total score of ≥16 (OCD group, only) or no current diagnosis of an emotional disorder, and no known history of OCD, PTSD, anxiety disorder(s), or recurrent major depressive disorder (Healthy participant group, only)
  • 18-60 years of age
  • ability to speak, read, write, and understand English sufficiently well to complete study procedures and provide informed consent
  • psychotherapy and/or psychiatric medication use remain stable for 6 weeks prior to study entry

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of current psychiatric diagnosis (healthy control group, only)
  • active substance use disorder
  • history of mania or hypomania, or lifetime presence of significant psychotic symptoms
  • active suicidal or homicidal ideation
  • use of medications known to reduce seizure threshold (e.g., stimulants)
  • organic brain disease or injury representing a contraindication to TMS
  • any health problems that would interfere with safe and/or practical study participation, including contraindications to TMS (e.g., seizure disorder, presence of metal hardware that would come in close contact with the discharging coil)
  • current pregnancy or planning to become pregnant during the study period

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: Other
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Device: continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS)
3 consecutive daily sessions of cTBS
Other: Healthy Adult Participants
Device: continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS)
3 consecutive daily sessions of cTBS

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of enrollment
Time Frame: At study enrollment
Percent of screened participants who are determined to be eligible and enrolled.
At study enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rates of visit completion
Time Frame: From enrollment to date of post-TMS study visit (approximately 1 week)
Percent (%) of enrolled participants completing each study visit
From enrollment to date of post-TMS study visit (approximately 1 week)
Peak cTBS intensity tolerated
Time Frame: From enrollment to end of TMS sessions (approximately 1 week)
Average of peak intensity (up to target intensity) tolerated during cTBS sessions
From enrollment to end of TMS sessions (approximately 1 week)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

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 (Estimated)

June 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 11, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 22, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY02003117

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

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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