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RecruitingAccepts healthy volunteersEarly Phase 1

Light Therapy for Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Washington University School of Medicine · NCT06720090

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 17–35 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Early Phase 1
Target enrollment
40
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
December 16, 2024
Record last updated
August 18, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is 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

  • Wear light therapy glasses for 1 hour each morning and complete a daily light therapy log for 5 weeks
  • Track their sleep every day with a wearable monitor and an electronic sleep diary for 5 weeks
  • Complete a 1-time assessment of sensitivity to light exposure
  • Complete self-report measures of OCD 4 times/day at baseline (2 weeks), mid-treatment (1 week), and end of treatment (1 week)

Being studied: Light therapy

Conditions: OCD

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Inclusion Criteria

  • Primary DSM-5 OCD diagnosis
  • Bedtime 0100 or later
  • Age 18-35
  • English speaking

Exclusion Criteria

  • Subjects must not be currently participating in another research study that would influence their participation in our study.
  • Diagnostic status
  • Treatment status
  • Night shift work or travel more than 1 time zone outside of Central Standard Time (CST) in the past month
  • Pregnancy status
  • Medication status
  • Regular nicotine or marijuana use

Recruiting US locations

  • Washington University

    St Louis, MO 63130

    Site contact: Rebecca Cox, PhD · 314-935-8111 · cox.r@wustl.edu

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Rebecca Cox, BA · 314-935-8111 · scraplab@wustl.edu
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Light Therapy for Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) (NCT06720090) | Bored Studies