Dose Timing of D-Cycloserine to Augment CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of 50 mg of d-cycloserine in comparison to placebo (a pill containing no medication) for improving the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in reducing symptoms associated with social anxiety disorder. In addition, the study will examine whether the effectiveness of d-cycloserine depends on the timing of the pill administration (i.e., 1- hour before the session or immediately after the session) as well as the success of the CBT therapy sessions. The investigators hypothesize that the tailored post-session DCS administration condition will outperform the other conditions (pre-session DCS, placebo, and non-tailored post-session DCS). This will be evidenced by short- and long-term improvements in social anxiety severity.

Timeline

Start

2014-04

Primary completion

2018-07-01

Completion

2018-07-01

Publications

• Taylor CT, Rosenfield D, Dowd SM, Dutcher CD, Hofmann SG, Otto MW, Pollack MH, Smits JAJ. What good are positive emotions for treatment? A replication test of whether trait positive emotionality predicts response to exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder. Behav Res Ther. 2023 Dec;171:104436. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104436. Epub 2023 Nov 11.
• Lubin RE, Fitzgerald HE, Rosenfield D, Carpenter JK, Papini S, Dutcher CD, Dowd SM, Hofmann SG, Pollack MH, Smits JAJ, Otto MW. Using pre-treatment de novo threat conditioning outcomes to predict treatment response to DCS augmentation of exposure-based CBT. J Psychiatr Res. 2023 Aug;164:357-363. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.06.008. Epub 2023 Jun 19.
• Dutcher CD, Dowd SM, Zalta AK, Taylor DJ, Rosenfield D, Perrone A, Otto MW, Pollack MH, Hofmann SG, Smits JAJ. Sleep quality and outcome of exposure therapy in adults with social anxiety disorder. Depress Anxiety. 2021 Nov;38(11):1182-1190. doi: 10.1002/da.23167. Epub 2021 May 19.
• Smits JAJ, Pollack MH, Rosenfield D, Otto MW, Dowd S, Carpenter J, Dutcher CD, Lewis EM, Witcraft SM, Papini S, Curtiss J, Andrews L, Kind S, Conroy K, Hofmann SG. Dose Timing of D-Cycloserine to Augment Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jun 1;3(6):e206777. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.6777.
• Hofmann SG, Papini S, Carpenter JK, Otto MW, Rosenfield D, Dutcher CD, Dowd S, Lewis M, Witcraft S, Pollack MH, Smits JAJ. Effect of d-cycloserine on fear extinction training in adults with social anxiety disorder. PLoS One. 2019 Oct 17;14(10):e0223729. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223729. eCollection 2019.
• Hofmann SG, Carpenter JK, Otto MW, Rosenfield D, Smits JA, Pollack MH. Dose timing of D-cycloserine to augment cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety: Study design and rationale. Contemp Clin Trials. 2015 Jul;43:223-30. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2015.06.015. Epub 2015 Jun 23.

Drugs

Indications