Improving safety learning and brain connectivity in adults with OCD
Official title: Characterization and Modulation of Functional Connectivity and Fear Extinction Abnormalities in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Funded at Yale University · NIH-11253546 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project sees if gentle brain stimulation plus exposure therapy helps adults with OCD learn safety faster and reduce fear-driven symptoms.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Yale University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New Haven, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2024 |
| Project end | July 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $820,241 |
| NIH project number | 7R01MH137471-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11253546 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults aged 21 and older diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder who are eligible for exposure and response prevention therapy would be ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without OCD, children under 21, or individuals with medical contraindications to brain stimulation (for example certain implants or active seizures) may not be eligible or likely to benefit.
What this research studies
You would come to Yale for brain scans and sessions that measure how networks involved in fear and safety learning work in adults with OCD. Researchers will use a gentle, noninvasive brain stimulation (anodal frontopolar multifocal tDCS) along with exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. During visits you will do conditioning and extinction tasks so the team can track how quickly you learn that a situation is safe and how your brain connectivity changes. The researchers will compare those results to understand whether the stimulation speeds safety learning and alters connectivity linked to persistent OCD symptoms.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could make exposure therapy more effective and reduce lingering fear-driven OCD symptoms by improving safety learning and brain network function.
How similar studies have gone: Early pilot work and community volunteer studies suggest frontopolar tDCS can speed safety learning, but larger tests in people with OCD are still novel.
Where this research is happening
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Yale University
New Haven, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Adams, Thomas G — Yale University
- Study coordinator: Adams, Thomas G
Related research
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.