Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Code:

NCT04373629

Conditions

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 40

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

attentional modulation

perceptual modulation

naturalistic viewing

Study Details

Brief summary:

A core symptom of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is perceptual distortions for appearance, which contributes to poor insight and delusionality, limits engagement in treatment, and puts individuals at risk for relapse. Results from this study will provide a comprehensive mechanistic model of brain, behavioral, and emotional contributors to abnormal perceptual processing, as well as how malleable it is with visual modulation techniques. This will lay the groundwork for next-step translational perceptual retraining approaches.

Conditions

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Study ID

NCT04373629

Start date

Dec 1, 2020

Status verified date

Nov, 2025

Completion date

Jun 1, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 1, 2025

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 40

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Body dysmorphic disorder: Inclusion:

  • males or females
  • ages 18-40
  • meet Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) criteria for Body Dysmorphic Disorder
  • have a Body Dysmorphic Disorder version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Scale (BDD-YBOCS) score of ≥20
  • primary appearance concerns of the face or head area
  • medication naïve or medication free for at least 8 weeks prior to enrollment

Inclusion Criteria:

Subclinical body dysmorphic disorder: Inclusion:

  • males or females
  • ages 18-40
  • have a score on the Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire of ≥8 \[1 standard deviation (STD) above population norms\] - primary appearance concerns of the face or head area
  • medication naïve or medication free for at least 8 weeks prior to enrollment

Inclusion Criteria:

Healthy controls: Inclusion

  • Healthy males and females from any racial or ethnic background - ages 18-40
  • have a score on the Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire of <8

Exclusion Criteria:

Body dysmorphic disorder: Exclusion

  • concurrent major Axis I disorders including substance use disorders, aside from anxiety disorders or depressive disorders, as these comorbidities are very common and the sample would otherwise be non-representative; however BDD must be the primary diagnosis.
  • lifetime: bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder.
  • psychotropic medications, aside from a short half-life sedative/hypnotic for insomnia, or a short half-life benzodiazepine as needed for anxiety but not exceeding a frequency of 3 doses in one week and not to be taken on the days of the training or MRI scan
  • current cognitive-behavioral therapy

Exclusion:

Subclinical body dysmorphic disorder: Exclusion

  • meet full DSM-5 criteria for Body Dysmorphic Disorder
  • current Axis I disorders including substance use disorders
  • lifetime: bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder
  • psychotropic medications, aside from a short half-life sedative/hypnotic for insomnia, or a short half-life benzodiazepine as needed for anxiety but not exceeding a frequency of 3 doses in one week and not to be taken on the days of the training or MRI scan
  • current cognitive-behavioral therapy

Exclusion Criteria:

Healthy Controls: Exclusion

  • Any current Axis I disorder
  • lifetime: bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder
  • Psychiatric medication

Exclusion Criteria:

All participants: Exclusion

  • Neurological disorder
  • Pregnancy
  • Current major medical disorders that may affect cerebral metabolism such as diabetes or thyroid disorders - Current risk of suicide with a plan and intent
  • Ferromagnetic metal implantations or devices (electronic implants or devices, infusion pumps, aneurysm clips, metal fragments or foreign bodies, metal prostheses, joints, rods or plates)
  • Visual acuity worse than 20/35 for each eye as determined by Snellen close vision acuity chart (vision will be tested with corrective lenses if participant uses them).

Study Design

Enrollment

146 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: attention modulation

experimental: perceptual modulation

experimental: naturalistic viewing

Interventions

attentional modulation

Attentional instructions when viewing faces will be given

perceptual modulation

Faces will be presented of varying durations

naturalistic viewing

Faces will be viewed without specific instructions

Primary outcome measure

  • Face inversion effect [ Time Frame: Baseline ]
  • Brain connectivity and activation in the dorsal and ventral visual stream [ Time Frame: Baseline ]
  • Eye gaze behavior [ Time Frame: Baseline ]
  • Emotional valence [ Time Frame: Baseline ]
  • Change in face inversion effect [ Time Frame: Within a week after baseline ]
  • Change in brain connectivity and activation in the dorsal and ventral visual stream [ Time Frame: Within a week after baseline ]
  • Change in eye gaze behavior [ Time Frame: Within a week after baseline ]
  • Change in emotional valence [ Time Frame: Within a week after baseline ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Research Analyst

(416) 535-8501bdd.research@camh.ca

Locations

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Recruiting

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H3

Contacts

Jamie D Feusner, M.D.

(416) 535-8501jamie.feusner@camh.ca

Principal Investigator:

Jamie D Feusner, M.D.

More Information

Sponsor

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Last update posted

Nov 14, 2025

Last verified

Nov, 2025

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-24. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on 2025-11-14. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.