D-Cycloserine to Enhance Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Acrophobia

Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate the utility of post-session administration of D-cycloserine to enhance fear extinction in a sample of people with acrophobia who will be treated with CBT.

Timeline

Start

2010-04

Primary completion

2011-07

Completion

2011-07

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper Mixed-effects repeated-measures ANOVAs and GLMMs revealed significant improvement in all outcome measures over time, but no between-group differences were observed. PMID 23098672 ↗

paper These findings do not support the application of post-session DCS administration for augmenting the efficacy of exposure-based treatments. PMID 23098672 ↗

Publications

• Smits JA, Rosenfield D, Otto MW, Powers MB, Hofmann SG, Telch MJ, Pollack MH, Tart CD. D-cycloserine enhancement of fear extinction is specific to successful exposure sessions: evidence from the treatment of height phobia. Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Jun 1;73(11):1054-8. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.12.009. Epub 2013 Jan 16.
• Tart CD, Handelsman PR, Deboer LB, Rosenfield D, Pollack MH, Hofmann SG, Powers MB, Otto MW, Smits JA. Augmentation of exposure therapy with post-session administration of D-cycloserine. J Psychiatr Res. 2013 Feb;47(2):168-74. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.09.024. Epub 2012 Oct 23.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Cycloserine	Small molecule	50 mg	—

Indications