Recruiting

Caloric Vestibular Stimulation

Sponsor:

Stanford University

Code:

NCT03918577

Conditions

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Body Dysmorphic Disorders

Illness Anxiety Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Caloric Vestibular Stimulation

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study investigates whether caloric vestibular stimulation can modulate a measure of insight in obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders.

Conditions

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Body Dysmorphic Disorders

Illness Anxiety Disorder

Study ID

NCT03918577

Start date

May 10, 2022

Status verified date

Jan, 2026

Completion date

Dec 30, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 30, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18-65
  • Primary diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Illness Anxiety Disorder or Somatic Symptom Disorder (excluding "with predominant pain")
  • Strongly held OCRD-related concerns meeting BABS score criterion.
  • No recent change in psychopharmacological treatment, if any
  • Capacity to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychiatric or medical conditions (eg, vertigo, history of otological surgery) that might make participation unsafe
  • Pregnant or nursing women
  • Active or recent substance use

Study Design

Enrollment

16 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Other

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: right cold caloric vestibular stimulation

OCRD participants in this arm will receive an approx 60 second infusion of distilled cold(4)c water in their right external ear canal, with before and after measures of OCRD symptom severity and insight.

experimental: left cold caloric vestibular stimulation

OCRD participants in this arm will receive an approx 60 second infusion of distilled cold(4)c water in their left external ear canal, with before and after measures of OCRD symptom severity and insight.

Interventions

Caloric Vestibular Stimulation

Cold water creates a convection current in the semicircular canal of the vestibular apparatus, leading to brief (<3 min) and typically well tolerated sense of rotational movement. Similar stimulation is routinely used in standard vestibular diagnostic testing.

Primary outcome measure

  • change in clinical insight as measured by the Brown Assessment of Beliefs (BABS). [ Time Frame: 1 hour ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Pavithra Mukunda, MS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Maria Filippou-Frye, MD, MBS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Locations

Stanford University

Recruiting

Stanford, California, United States, 94304

Contacts

Pavithra Makunda, MS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Sindu Menon, MBBS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Principal Investigator:

Peter van Roessel, MD, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Stanford University

Last update posted

Jan 22, 2026

Last verified

Jan, 2026

Keywords

  • Caloric Vestibular Stimulation
  • Insight

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Stanford University on 2026-01-22.