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Brain zaps boost OCD therapy in youth trial
NCT ID NCT05931913
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Aug 21, 2026 · Updated 2 times
Summary
This study tests if a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called TMS can improve the effects of exposure therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in people aged 12 to 21. Fifty participants will receive either real or fake TMS before therapy sessions over two weeks. The goal is to see if TMS helps calm overactive brain circuits and reduce compulsive behaviors.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 60 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Mar 2024
- Expected to finish
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Oct 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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12 to 21 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Between the ages of 12 and 21 years. * Presence of OCD, as indicated by a score of \> 16 on the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, indicating moderate or greater OCD symptoms. * Presence of motor compulsions on CY-BOCS compulsion checklist * English fluency to ensure comprehension of informed consent and study measures and instructions. Exclusion Criteria: * Decline to provide informed consent. * Has a personal history, or a family history in a first-born relative, of any medical or psychiatric disorder, disease, condition, injury, symptoms or circumstance that, in the opinion of the principal investigator, may: (1) impact the risk profile of TMS; (2) reduce the subject's ability to fulfill the study requirements as per protocol; or (3) adversely impact the integrity of the data or the validity of the study results." Some examples include: epilepsy or seizure disorder(s), bipolar disorder or any psychiatric disorder associated with a risk of mania, intracranial pathology, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor, stroke, implanted medical devices or metallic objects in the head, or moderate-severe heart disease * Pregnant according to the medical history or a urine pregnancy test; and menstruating females who are heterosexually active and not using a highly effective form of contraception (tubal ligation, FDA-approved hormonal contraceptive, or an IUD) * Inability to undergo MRI. * Left handedness. * Is deemed to be at imminent risk of suicide according to the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) (i.e. answers YES to ≥ one (1) of the four screening questions) and/or in the medical opinion of the investigator * History of, or risk factors for, neurocardiogenic syncope (history of syncope/ presyncope related to noxious stimuli, anxiety, micturation, or posture). * Concurrent psychotherapy of any kind for OCD. * Concurrent TMS or receipt of any TMS experimental or clinical treatment less than 3 months prior to enrollment. * Taking a medication deemed to pose high seizurogenic potential per physician review * Taking a medication that has not reached stability criterion (same medication and dose for 6 weeks with no planned changes over the study period)
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
2 sites. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital
RECRUITINGRiverside, Rhode Island, 02915, United States
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University of Minnesota
RECRUITINGMinneapolis, Minnesota, 55414, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Reading the Brain's signals to predict who benefits from deep brain stimulation
- Brain scans and biosamples: mapping why OCD looks so different in every person
- Can a gentle electrical current quiet Obsessive-Compulsive symptoms?
- Can magnetic pulses ease OCD in teens who Haven't improved?
- Can a focused electric field quiet the Brain's obsessive signals?
- Can tailored brain stimulation quiet anxiety that drugs Can't?