Clinical Trial: Neural Mechanisms of CBT Response in Hoarding Disorder

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Neural Mechanisms of CBT Response in Hoarding Disorder

Brief Summary: The purpose of this research is to measure changes in brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after cognitive-behavioral therapy for compulsive hoarding. Cognitive-behavioral therapy aims to help people change the thoughts and behaviors that maintain symptoms of hoarding. The investigators intend to enroll approximately 80 people with hoarding disorder and 40 people with no psychiatric disorder, between the ages of 20 and 60, for this study. The investigators believe that after treatment there will be changes in the brain activity of individuals with compulsive hoarding.

Detailed Summary: The long-term goal of the proposed research is to improve clinical outcomes for Hoarding Disorder (HD), a common and potentially debilitating condition that poses a severe public health burden. The PI has developed and tested a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that appears moderately effective, although there is clear room for improvement. In the present study, the investigators propose to merge this line of research with the PI's recent NIH-supported neuroimaging research that points to specific functional abnormalities in regions of interest (ROIs) related to cognitive and affective decisionmaking processes. Patients with HD n = 80) will be randomized to CBT or wait list (WL). At pre-treatment, mid-treatment, and post-treatment, patients will undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an acquiring and discarding decision-making task that has been used successfully in the investigators' previous work. In addition, patients will complete a number of laboratory tasks designed to assess decision-making capacity and impairment. A group of healthy control (HC) participants (n = 40) will also complete these measures as a normative control group. The primary aim of the proposed study is to determine the extent to which the observed patterns of neural activity in HD change following CBT. Under this aim, the investigators predict that HD patients (vs.HCs) will show greater hemodynamic activity in ROIs associated with cognitive and affective aspects of decision-making. The investigators further predict that HD patients receiving CBT (vs. WL) will show decreased activity in those ROIs, and will no longer differ from HCs following CBT. A secondary aim of the proposed study is to determine the relationship between change in activity in brain regions of interest and hoarding-related symptoms and impairments. The investigators expect, that hemodynamic activity in the target ROIs will correlate with symptoms of HD and with performance on decision-making tasks; a
Sponsor: Hartford Hospital

Current Primary Outcome: Saving Inventory-Revised (SI-R) [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks and 16 weeks after treatment ]

The SI-R is a 23-item questionnaire with 3 factor-analytically defined sub-scales for difficulty discarding, excessive clutter and compulsive acquisition


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome: Clinician Global Impression (CGI) Severity (Self Report and Clinician Administered) [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks and 16 weeks after treatment ]

The CGI is a widely used measure of global symptom severity (CGI-S) and symptom improvement after treatment (CGI-I). On the CGI-S the scale ranges from 1 (no symptoms) to 7 (extreme symptoms). On the CGI-I the scale ranges from 1 (very much improved) to 7 (very much worse). The CGI can be used in both a self-report and clinician administered version and this study utilizes both formats.


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Hartford Hospital

Dates:
Date Received: September 12, 2013
Date Started: July 2013
Date Completion: June 2018
Last Updated: March 25, 2016
Last Verified: March 2016