Anxiety clinical trials at University of California Health

32 in progress, 17 open to eligible people

Showing trials for

  • Affect Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

    open to eligible people ages 18-65

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and mediators of change in Positive Affect Treatment, a psychotherapy specifically aimed at enhancing reward sensitivity in individuals with low positive affect (a core feature of anhedonia) in the context of depression or anxiety. Target enrollment is 100 male and female participants with low positive affect and depression or anxiety and impaired functioning, between the ages of 18 and 65 years, who will be randomized to either Positive Affect Treatment or Negative Affect Treatment (designed to reduce threat sensitivity). Participants will complete laboratory tests, psychiatric assessments, and self-report questionnaires as part of the study. The total length of participation is around 5 months.

    at UCLA

  • Aging and Reward System Response to Inflammation and Anxiety Study

    open to eligible people ages 60-80

    The purpose of this study is to use an experimental inflammatory challenge to examine whether older adults with symptoms of anxiety experience loss of pleasure or loss of motivation when they are exposed to inflammation. Loss of pleasure or loss of motivation will be evaluated using self-report questionnaires, computer tasks, and during a brain scan.

    at UCLA

  • Benzodiazepine Taper with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Patients Using Prescription Opioids

    open to eligible people ages 18-85

    Taking prescription opioids for pain together with benzodiazepines for the treatment of anxiety disorders is not recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of the elevated risk of serious complications, including fatal overdose. However, this concurrent prescription use continues to be prevalent, likely due to the high comorbidity between pain and anxiety disorders. Efforts are urgently needed to reduce benzodiazepine use among patients taking opioids. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders, and represents a safer and more effective treatment for anxiety disorders compared to benzodiazepines. The proposed study aims to make minor adaptations to a CBT protocol to facilitate benzodiazepine tapering and to then conduct a 2-arm randomized clinical trial with primary care patients who receive benzodiazepine and opioid prescriptions. Participants will be randomized to receive a telehealth-delivered intervention consisting of a gentle, 12-week benzodiazepine taper (BZT) with either CBT or a health education control (HE). Participants will be assessed at baseline, several points throughout treatment, at post-treatment, and at a 2-month follow-up assessment on benzodiazepine use, opioid use, and anxiety symptoms. Should CBT + BZT outperform HE + BZT, this intervention could make a significant impact by reducing major consequences of concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines, including mortality.

    at UCLA

  • BLOOM: Boldly Living outdOOrs for Mental Health

    open to eligible people ages 9-12

    In 2019, the Office of the California Surgeon General launched the ACEs Aware Initiative in collaboration with the California Department of Health Care Services. This ambitious campaign aims to develop a network of care model of healthcare delivery that explicitly links health resources within communities to clinicians screening patients for ACEs. The ACEs Aware Initiative recognizes nature experiences as one of seven "stress busters." Indeed, California boasts many outdoor resources for clinicians to integrate into the network of care. Through a calming effect on the autonomic nervous system, providing a setting for supportive relationships to develop and physical activity to occur, time in nature may help California prevent, heal and treat ACEs and the clinical sequelae. As one of the most common psychiatric disorders in youth, anxiety remains one of the most important sequelae of ACEs. There is a gap in evidence evaluating nature-based programs for child mental health. This study will evaluate BLOOM [Boldly Living outdOOrs for Mental health], a new intervention which is a modified version of an existing nature-based curriculum called SHINE (Stay Healthy In Nature Everyday) curriculum currently in place at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, which takes youth and their families into nature once a month for stress relief. This new intervention mirrors SHINE except that it will be tailored to children ages 9-12 with a history of ACEs and current anxiety. This study will evaluate the benefits of a group intervention model, an independent nature-outing model, and a comparison to a wait-listed control group. Our goal is to provide a scalable model for low-cost mental health care to the California Department of Health Care Services.

    at UCSF

  • Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Pulsation (LIFUP) for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

    open to eligible people ages 18-65

    There are few treatment options available for patients once they have failed standard psychopharmacological therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. Existing brain stimulation methods such as rTMS fail to target deep brain structures associated with anxiety disorders; structures such as the amygdala. In this double-blind sham-controlled clinical trial, the investigators propose to establish baseline severity of anxiety in 48 patients, then deliver eight treatments over four sessions of focused ultrasound stimulation to the amygdala. Anxiety severity will be assessed using standard psychometric scales after each session, and at follow-ups.

    at UCLA

  • Mindful Self-Compassion to Address PTSD and Substance Use in Unhoused Women

    open to eligible females ages 18 years and up

    Trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorder (SUD) present major threats to public health. PTSD and SUD are major correlates of disability, often resulting in severe social and occupational impairment. Comorbidity between PTSD and SUD (PTSD/SUD) is common and frequently co-occurs with other mental health ailments including depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Comorbidity may be amplified in groups vulnerable to high trauma exposure, such as women with low socioeconomic status including women experiencing homelessness (WEH). Moreover, the reciprocal nature of PTSD/SUD (substances are used to cope with PTSD symptoms; substance use can create high-risk situations for new traumas to occur), can create a cycle of trauma and symptomatology leading to a critical health disparity. PTSD/SUD can be costly and difficult to treat, with treatment completion often low and relapse rates often high. Low-cost, complementary interventions, such as self-compassion (SC) interventions, which target key mechanisms that maintain PTSD/SUD, could improve treatment outcomes. SC interventions include practices that build skills to improve emotional responses, cognitive understanding, and mindfulness. Recent research supports the benefit of SC interventions for reducing PTSD, SUD, and related comorbidities, potentially with large effects. However, sample sizes have generally been small and randomized designs infrequently used. Moreover, while SC interventions may act to improve key mechanisms of treatment response and/or symptom maintenance (e.g., emotion regulation/dysregulation, trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame, moral injury, and craving), such mediating factors have been underexplored. To address these limitations, the present proposal will implement community-based research principles and use a two phase, mixed-method design to adapt and test a widely used SC intervention (Mindful Self Compassion; MSC) for use with a sample of WEH with PTSD/SUD. The project will be conducted in partnership with a state-funded drug treatment facility that serves women and families experiencing high health disparities. Phase I was completed in 2023 and adapted the standard MSC course for use with trauma-exposed WEH with PTSD/SUD using the ADAPT-ITT model, an eight-stage model that engages community partners to increase feasibility and acceptability of interventions for at-risk populations. Phase II will be an open-label cluster randomized clinical trial (N=202) to test the benefit of the adapted MSC at improving primary (PTSD, substance use) and secondary outcomes (depression, anxiety, hopelessness) among a sample of WEH with PTSD/SUD residing in a residential drug treatment site. MSC (n=101) will be compared to Treatment as Usual (TAU; n=101). WEH in the MSC group will complete a 6-week (six sessions plus a half-day retreat) MSC intervention. The TAU group will engage in weekly check-ins with the research team but will not receive an intervention. WEH will be assessed at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at a 4-month follow-up. One-on-one interviews will be conducted with the MSC group to collect qualitative data on experiences. An exploratory aim will be to elucidate mechanism of treatment-response and maintenance or remission of PTSD symptoms. These potential mechanisms will include SC, emotion regulation/dysregulation, trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame, moral injury, and craving. Results may inform treatment for PTSD/SUD in WEH and other groups experiencing high health disparities and provide valuable insights into mechanisms underlying PTSD/SUD symptoms over time. Findings are relevant to military populations, which experience high rates of PTSD/SUD, and other populations disproportionately exposed to trauma.

    at UCLA

  • Optimizing Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders

    open to eligible people ages 18-65

    The study will compare the effects that two different approaches of exposure therapy have on reducing fear and anxiety in individuals with social anxiety disorder or panic disorder.

    at UCLA

  • Partners in Caring for Anxious Youth

    open to eligible people ages 7-17

    Pediatric onset anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety, social anxiety, separation anxiety) are highly prevalent, and if untreated, are impairing into adolescence and adulthood. In the largest comparative efficacy study remission occurred in about 65% of children and adolescents treated with a combination of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In contrast, CBT without an SSRI achieved remission in 35% of children at 3 months and 45% at 6 months-a 30% and 20% difference, respectively. Despite the difference in remission rates, CBT alone is the preferred treatment of most patients and families. Lack of awareness of the significant difference in remission rates and concerns about medication side effects may drive patient and family preference even though SSRIs have a positive safety profile. Critiques of CBT in the above study suggest that CBT was not as effective as it could be due to short treatment duration, restricted family involvement and limited exposure sessions. Would the combination of CBT and an SSRI still be superior to CBT only, if CBT was of longer duration, and included more family involvement and exposure sessions? In the Partners in Care for Anxious Youth (PCAY) study, children and adolescents with an anxiety disorder ages 7-17 years followed in pediatric primary care clinics affiliated with three institution: Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, University of California Los Angeles and University of Cincinnati will be randomized to one of two treatment arms; either CBT only or CBT combined with an SSRI (either fluoxetine, sertraline, or escitalopram). CBT in PCAY will be 6 months in duration and include more family involvement, and more exposure opportunities than past trials. The 6-month acute treatment phase will be followed by 6 months of followup. The primary outcome will be anxiety symptom remission and reduction in impairment over 6 and 12-months.

    at UCLA

  • Pramipexole to Enhance Social Connections

    open to eligible people ages 18-50

    This study seeks to understand if the medication pramipexole improves social connectedness and functioning in adults (ages 18-50) who experience anxiety or depression. The study plans to enroll 108 participants total across two sites (University of California San Diego and New York State Psychiatric Institute). Pramipexole will be given in a 6-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Social reward processing will be assessed using measures of brain function (fMRI), behavior, and self-report at baseline and week 6. Knowledge gained from this study will help determine the therapeutic potential of targeting the dopamine system to remediate social disconnection as an anxiety and depression intervention.

    at UCSD

  • Project 2: Optimizing Engagement and Outcomes in STAND Digital Therapy

    open to eligible people ages 18-40

    The goal is to optimize peer coaching in order to optimize engagement and outcomes in digital therapy. The unmet mental health needs of community college students are staggering and a growing body of research demonstrates that therapy provided digitally with the assistance of trained community members without advanced degrees in mental health is an effective and scalable way to address these needs. Despite being effective for improving symptoms and functioning in those who engage in it, uptake and engagement in digital therapy is generally quite low. Recent research suggests that this is especially true of Latinx individuals, who tend to have unique and significant unmet mental health needs. To address these issues, Project 2 will examine treatment engagement, treatment satisfaction, symptoms and functioning outcomes among Latinx students at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) receiving digital therapy with peer coaching in the STAND program.

    at UCLA

  • Resources, Inspiration, Support and Empowerment (RISE) for Black Pregnant Women

    open to eligible females ages 18-65

    Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) encompass a range of mental health disorders that occur during pregnancy and up to one year postpartum. Approximately 13% of women experience PMADs. This rate doubles for those with adverse perinatal outcomes (APO) and triples in Black women. Recent research points to racism as one significant source of these health disparities. Cultural adaptations to improve communication with providers decrease rates of depression in minority patients as well as improve adherence to treatment, insight and alliance. Discrimination stress and worries about experiencing medical consequences are thought to increase systemic inflammation, a mechanism known to drive mental and physical symptoms. Inflammation has been implicated in both PMADs and APO, suggesting a shared underlying etiology. Evidence from our work suggests that inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of PMADs. The proposed pilot randomized control trial will allow the investigators to build on promising preliminary results and identify whether our culturally relevant mobile Health (mHealth) intervention is effective in improving outcomes among Black pregnant women randomized to the intervention compared to a control group. The culturally relevant modules include building communication and self-advocacy skills and provide a support network. The primary objective of this research is to provide guidance for clinical care of Black women during the perinatal period, with the goal to improve mental health and physical health outcomes. A secondary goal is to examine novel inflammatory signatures that change as a function of the intervention to reduce PMADs in this population. As inflammation may be diagnostic of PMADs, identification of its role may shed light of potential intervention targets and provide critical knowledge to improve women's long-term health. PMAD symptoms will be assessed prospectively in 150 Black pregnant women, half of whom will be randomized to receive the culturally relevant mHealth intervention. The investigators hypothesize that women in the intervention group will have reduced rates of PMADs and APOs, an increase in adherence to mental health treatment and will report increased self-advocacy skills, increased communication with providers, and reduced levels of discrimination related stress. Participants will also have improved biological risk indicators including lower circulating C-reactive protein and a transcription profile of differentially expressed inflammatory genes, marked by a decreased activity of inflammatory transcription factors from blood spots. Given the high burden of both PMADs and APOs among Black mothers and the numerous consequences on maternal and child outcomes, it is imperative that investigators develop and implement effective interventions, and test the biological mechanisms that might drive these effects. This work is interdisciplinary, building on a network of community advocates to implement a novel mHealth intervention informed by real world experiences designed to enhance self-advocacy, reduce stress and prevent adverse outcomes

    at UCLA

  • S.T.A.N.D. Alacrity Center Signature Project

    open to eligible people ages 18-40

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical decision-making algorithms for (a) triaging to level of care and (b) adapting level of care in a low income, highly diverse sample of community college students at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). The target enrollment is 200 participants per year, for five years (N=1000). Participants are between the ages of 18 and 40 years and will be randomized into either symptom severity decision-making (SSD) or data-driven decision-making (DDD). Participants in each condition will be triaged to one of three levels of care, including self-guided online prevention, coach-guided online cognitive behavioral therapy, and clinician-delivered care. After initial triaging, level of care will be adapted throughout the entire time of the study enrollment. Participants will complete computerized assessments and self-report questionnaires as part of the study. Recruitment will take place in the first two to four months of each academic year. The total length of participation is 40 weeks.

    at UCLA

  • Social Support and Enhanced Fear Extinction

    open to eligible people ages 18-55

    University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to enhance the extinction of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders. After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n = 50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study, with an expected recruited 150 to reach this number. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing a fear extinction procedure in which threatening cues--cues that predict electric shock--will be paired with either an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) or an image of a smiling stranger. These pairings will be presented repeatedly in the absence of shock in order for fear extinction to occur. Participants will return for a follow-up test to determine if fear extinction was successful.

    at UCLA

  • Social Support and Reduced Fear Acquisition

    open to eligible people ages 18-55

    University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to prevent the acquisition of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders. After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n =50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing fear acquisition procedures--the repeated pairing of a neutral image with a mild electric shock that ultimately leads to the association of threat of shock with the image--in the presence of an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) and an image of a smiling stranger.

    at UCLA

  • The Reducing Risk Study

    open to eligible people ages 12-18

    The present study will test an innovative mobile health adaptation of a behavioral intervention that improves sleep and mental health concerns among adolescents.

    at UCSF

  • Virtual Reality (VR) for Prone Pain Procedures

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) distraction in patients undergoing interventional pain procedures in the prone position. VR has been shown to improve patient experience during interventional pain procedures, however, many of these procedures are done in the prone position making VR a challenge. This study will evaluate the effect of a VR headset and support in patients undergoing prone interventional pain procedures compared to control.

    at UC Davis

  • Optimizing Cognitive Remediation

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Veterans with mental illness face challenges with community reintegration, including achieving vocational success, attaining their educational goals and going back to school, and maintaining a high quality of life. VA Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs, Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers and other mental health treatment programs are designed to help Veterans overcome these barriers, but cognitive impairment often seen in Veterans with mental illness limits gains from these settings. Cognitive remediation interventions can be helpful, but they are either "one-size fits all," and thus may not be useful for all Veterans with mental illness, or are too narrow in scope, focusing on specific mental illnesses, limiting generalizability. This project will test whether an objective neurophysiological biomarker, mismatch negativity (MMN), can better match the "right" Veteran to the "right" cognitive remediation treatment regardless of their specific mental health diagnosis.

    at UCSD

  • Oral AFA-281 in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    This study will evaluate the safety and exploratory efficacy of AFA-281 in patients with Alcohol use disorder on cravings, subjective response to alcohol, pain thresholds, anxiety, depression, and sleep.

    at UCLA

  • Affect Treatment for Depression and Anxiety (TAD Pilot)

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The goal of this study is to determine whether subjects who do not show expected clinical improvement during the early course of positive affect treatment (PAT) would benefit from switching to an alternative psychosocial treatment (negative affect treatment) that is designed to instead target and improve deficits in threat sensitivity. Participants will complete laboratory tests, psychiatric assessments, and self-report questionnaires as part of the study. The total length of participation is around 5 months.

    at UCLA

  • Amplification of Positivity for Alcohol Use Disorder Co-Occurring With Anxiety or Depression

    Sorry, currently not accepting new patients, but might later

    The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of a protocol in which individuals with comorbid depression or anxiety disorders and alcohol use disorder will be randomized to complete Amplification of Positivity for Alcohol Use Disorder (AMP-A)- a psychological treatment focused on increasing positive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors- or a traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention. Assessed outcomes will include participant acceptability and completion rates, participant compliance with the intervention, positive and negative affect, substance use- and depression and anxiety-related symptom severity, and functional disability.

    at UCSD

  • Amplification of Positivity to Enhance Social Connections in Anxiety and Depression

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The overall goal of this project is to develop a novel transdiagnostic behavioral treatment -- Amplification of Positivity (AMP) -- intended to enhance positive social connections in individuals with elevated anxiety and/or depression. Social relationship impairments are common and debilitating consequences of anxiety and depression. Existing treatments have some beneficial impact on social functioning; however, many people continue to have few and/or poor quality relationships following treatment, even after experiencing symptom relief. This study will evaluate the effects of AMP on the brain systems that have been shown to be important for establishing positive connections with others. Approximately 100 individuals (ages 18-55) seeking treatment for anxiety or depression will participate in this study. Participants will be randomly assigned with equal probability to either AMP or stress management training (SMT) (6 sessions each). Participants will be assessed at baseline and post-treatment and compared on measures assessing brain responses to social reward (primary outcome), as well as physiological, behavioral, and emotional responses to social reward (secondary outcomes). It is hypothesized that the AMP group will experience greater increases from pre- to post-treatment in activity in brain systems that regulate the processing of social reward cues (e.g., striatum) relative to participants in the SMT group. It is also hypothesized that changes in brain activation to social reward from pre- to post-treatment will be correlated with the degree of improvement in social connectedness.

    at UCSD

  • By Youth, For Youth: Digital Supported Peer Navigation for Addressing Child Mental Health Inequities

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    Black and Latino youth are more likely to experience an unmet mental health or psychosocial need than do their white counterparts. Schools and primary care clinics are ideal hubs to provide mental health, healthcare, social services, and prevention to students and families who otherwise face barriers to care. Using Participatory Design and Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) for app development, mobile technology is designed to optimize access to wellness resources. The proposed intervention is a model of care using technology and navigators for connecting youth ages 13-22 to mental health care and supports. The app is co-created with the community and supported by culturally responsive individuals called family and youth navigators, in schools and primary care clinics. Outcomes are measured using the cascade of care model.

    at UCLA UCSF

  • Can Computational Measures of Task Performance Predict Psychiatric Symptoms and Changes in Symptom Severity Across Time

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    This study investigates the computational mechanisms associated with psychiatric disease dimensions. The study will characterize the relationship between computational parameter estimates of task performance and psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses with a longitudinal approach over a 12 month interval. Participants will be healthy participants recruited through Prolific an on-line crowdsourcing service, and psychiatric patients and healthy participants recruited via UCLA Psychiatry Clinics and UCLA's STAND Program

    at UCLA

  • Enhancing Transdiagnostic Mechanisms of Cognitive Dyscontrol (R33)

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    The proposed project aims to test the cognitive and neural effects of a cognitive training in a sample of individuals seeking treatment for anxiety, depression, or traumatic stress symptoms. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 will receive a computer-based program that is designed as a cognitive training intervention and Group 2 will receive a similar computer-based exercise that researchers think will be less effective in training thinking skills (also known as a control or sham condition). Participants will be compared on cognitive performance and brain response during cognitive tasks from baseline to post-treatment.

    at UCSD

  • Filipino Family Health Initiative 1.0

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of an online parenting program on Filipino parents living in California. The main aims are to: - Test the effectiveness of the online Incredible Years® model of parent training and its impact on primary outcomes. - Determine the impact of intervention engagement (i.e., higher attendance) on parenting practices and child behavior outcomes. - Describe Intervention delivery and its online implementation in real-world community settings. The study involves two phases: - Phase 1: Participants will receive the Online Incredible Years® School Age Basic & Advanced Parent Training Program (intervention) and complete parent-reported and child-reported measures at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. - Phase 2: Parenting Group Leaders will each participate in one semi-structured interview to inform the sustainability of the intervention in real world community settings. Researchers will compare 250 Filipino immigrant families, half of which will receive the intervention and the other half will receive the American Academy of Pediatrics' Bright Futures handouts (control) and be placed on a 3-month waitlist for the IY parenting program. Both groups will be followed for a minimum of 6 months with follow- up assessments that include parent-report and child report measures.

    at UCSD

  • Intervention Trial for Healthcare Workers With Anxiety

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    The purpose of the study is to conduct an initial test of the efficacy of Emotional Resolution (EmRes) therapy to reduce anxiety in healthcare workers. The investigators hypothesize EmRes will reduce levels of anxiety in participants compared to an active control group engaged in mindfulness-based gratitude.

    at UCLA

  • Music Genre Stereotypes to Boost Relaxation in Chronic Pain Patients

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    Social psychological research has demonstrated that internalized stereotypes affect people's attitudes and behaviors. Music-based interventions that rely on stereotypes might have promise for keeping participants engaged in health interventions, reducing stress, and improving wellbeing.

    at UC Irvine

  • Personalized Brain Stimulation to Treat Chronic Concussive Symptoms

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    The goal of this study is to investigate a new treatment for chronic symptoms after concussion or mild traumatic brain injury in people aged 18-65 years old. Chronic symptoms could include dizziness, headache, fatigue, brain fog, memory difficulty, sleep disruption, irritability, or anxiety that occurred or worsened after the injury. These symptoms can interfere with daily functioning, causing difficulty returning to physical activity, work, or school. Previous concussion therapies have not been personalized nor involved direct treatments to the brain itself. The treatment being tested in the present study is a noninvasive, personalized form of brain stimulation, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The investigators intend to answer the questions: 1. Does personalized TMS improve brain connectivity after concussion? 2. Does personalized TMS improve avoidance behaviors and chronic concussive symptoms? 3. Do the improvements last up to 2 months post-treatment? 4. Are there predictors of treatment response, or who might respond the best? Participants will undergo 14 total visits to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA): 1. One for the baseline symptom assessments and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 2. Ten for TMS administration 3. Three for post-treatment symptom assessments and MRIs Participants will have a 66% chance of being assigned to an active TMS group and 33% chance of being assigned to a sham, or inactive, TMS group. The difference is that the active TMS is more likely to cause functional changes in the brain than the inactive TMS.

    at UCLA

  • Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Human Emotion Network

    Sorry, accepting new patients by invitation only

    The overall goal of this study is to elucidate how emotion network dynamics relate to the behavioral, autonomic, and experiential changes that accompany emotions and to investigate how emotion network dysfunction relates to affective symptoms. Affective symptoms are a common feature of neuropsychiatric disorders that reflect dysfunction in a distributed brain network that supports emotion. How aberrant functioning in a single emotion network underlies a wide range of affective symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, is not well understood. Anchored by the anterior cingulate cortex and ventral anterior insula, the emotion network responds to numerous affective stimuli. The recording of neural activity directly from the cortical surface from individuals is a promising approach since intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) can provide direct estimates of neuronal populations to map the spatiotemporal dynamics of the emotion network at a millisecond level resolution. This study will exam how activity within emotion network hubs changes during emotions and how emotion network properties make some individuals more vulnerable to affective symptoms than others. A multidisciplinary approach is critical for understanding the dynamic brain network to advance neuroanatomical models of emotions and for guiding the development of novel treatments for affective symptoms.

    at UCSF

  • Transforming Health and Reducing Perinatal Anxiety Through Virtual Engagement

    Sorry, currently not accepting new patients, but might later

    The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether digital cognitive behavioral therapy (dCBT) can be used to address clinical anxiety in marginalized and low-income pregnant people in California. The main question it aims to answer is: What is the efficacy of digital cognitive behavioral therapy (dCBTI) for reducing clinical anxiety among marginalized and low-income pregnant people? Participants will receive digital cognitive behavioral therapy immediately, or 10 weeks after enrollment (i.e., waitlist control). Participants will complete surveys and interviews until 6-8 weeks postpartum.

    at UCLA UCSF

  • Latent Structure of Multi-level Assessments and Predictors of Outcomes for Women in Recovery

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    In this study the investigators will seek to improve their understanding of how positive and negative valence systems, cognition, and arousal/interoception are inter-related in disorders of trauma, mood, substance use, and eating behavior for women involved in a court diversion program in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Women in Recovery). The investigators will recruit 100 individuals and use a wide range of assessment tools, neuroimaging measures, blood and microbiome collections and behavioral tasks to complete the baseline and follow-up study visits. Upon completion, the investigators aim to have robust and reliable dimensional measures that quantify these systems and a set of assessments that should be recommended as a clinical tool to enhance outcome prediction for the clinician and assist in determining who will likely benefit from the diversion program, and to inform future revision or augmentation of the program to increase treatment effectiveness.

    at UCSD

  • SKY Breath Intervention

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    Depression is highly debilitating and prevalent among adolescents. Adolescent-onset depression is associated with long, severe, and recurrent episodes that are often not responsive to treatment. There is a dire need to develop novel treatments that are efficient, cost-effective, and tolerant for this population. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) is a breath-based meditative practice that entails a sequence of specific breathing techniques to help practitioners achieve a state of calm alertness. It has offered benefits as a therapeutic option for mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety disorders and as an adjunctive treatment in patients with major depressive disorder, but the neurological mechanism of SKY breath intervention is still not fully understood. The goal of this study is to determine the efficacy of SKY breath intervention in treating depressed adolescents and to understand its mechanisms. In this study, thirty depressed adolescents and thirty healthy controls will be recruited to evaluate the efficacy of the 8-week SKY intervention. Assessment for depression and anxiety, salivary cortisol, resting heart rate, blood pressure, and neuroimaging will be collected at the baseline, 4 weeks into SKY intervention (questionnaires only), and post-intervention. This will be the first study to evaluate the potential benefits of of SKY breath intervention as a treatment option for depressed adolescents.

    at UCSF

Our lead scientists for Anxiety research studies include .

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