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

The Washington University

Status and phase: Enrolling; Early Phase 1

Conditions: OCD

Treatments: Behavioral: Light therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06720090

K23MH137376 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

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)

Enrollment: 40 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 17 to 35 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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40 participants in 2 patient groups

Higher dose

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be given wearable light therapy devices that emit a higher light intensity.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Light therapy

Lower dose

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Participants will be given wearable light therapy devices that emit a lower light intensity.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Light therapy