Disgust-reduction evaluative conditioning (DREC) and brain stimulation in patients with contamination-based...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Disgust is a key emotion in contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• Evaluative conditioning can alter emotional responses.
• Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) dysfunction is implicated in OCD, and neuromodulation of the OFC may alleviate symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of evaluative conditioning in reducing disgust sensitivity in patients with contamination-based OCD.
• To examine the combined effect of evaluative conditioning and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the OFC on disgust and OCD symptoms.
• To explore the impact of these interventions on electroencephalogram (EEG) and cognitive functions.

Main Methods:

• A single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a 2x2 factorial design.
• 55 contamination-based OCD patients were assigned to 10 sessions of real or sham evaluative conditioning paired with real or sham cathodal tDCS to the OFC.
• Primary outcomes included disgust intensity and clinical OCD symptoms; secondary outcomes involved EEG and cognitive function assessments at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Primary outcome data on disgust intensity and OCD symptom reduction are pending analysis.
• Secondary outcome data on EEG and cognitive function changes are pending analysis.
• This trial is the first to apply evaluative conditioning in an OCD clinical sample.

Conclusions:

• This study will provide initial evidence on the effectiveness of evaluative conditioning, with or without tDCS, for disgust reduction in OCD.
• Findings may inform novel, emotion-focused therapeutic strategies for OCD.
• The study will also offer insights into the neural and cognitive underpinnings of OCD treatment response.