Anxiety clinical trials at UCLA

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and mediators of change in Positive Affect Treatment, a psychotherapy specifically aimed at enhancing reward sensitivity in individuals with low positive affect (a core feature of anhedonia) in the context of depression or anxiety. Target enrollment is 100 male and female participants with low positive affect and depression or anxiety and impaired functioning, between the ages of 18 and 65 years, who will be randomized to either Positive Affect Treatment or Negative Affect Treatment (designed to reduce threat sensitivity). Participants will complete laboratory tests, psychiatric assessments, and self-report questionnaires as part of the study. The total length of participation is around 5 months.

Taking prescription opioids for pain together with benzodiazepines for the treatment of anxiety disorders is not recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of the elevated risk of serious complications, including fatal overdose. However, this concurrent prescription use continues to be prevalent, likely due to the high comorbidity between pain and anxiety disorders. Efforts are urgently needed to reduce benzodiazepine use among patients taking opioids. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders, and represents a safer and more effective treatment for anxiety disorders compared to benzodiazepines. The proposed study aims to make minor adaptations to a CBT protocol to facilitate benzodiazepine tapering and to then conduct a 2-arm randomized clinical trial with primary care patients who receive benzodiazepine and opioid prescriptions. Participants will be randomized to receive a telehealth-delivered intervention consisting of a gentle, 12-week benzodiazepine taper (BZT) with either CBT or a health education control (HE). Participants will be assessed at baseline, several points throughout treatment, at post-treatment, and at a 2-month follow-up assessment on benzodiazepine use, opioid use, and anxiety symptoms. Should CBT + BZT outperform HE + BZT, this intervention could make a significant impact by reducing major consequences of concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines, including mortality.

There are few treatment options available for patients once they have failed standard psychopharmacological therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. Existing brain stimulation methods such as rTMS fail to target deep brain structures associated with anxiety disorders; structures such as the amygdala. In this double-blind sham-controlled clinical trial, the investigators propose to establish baseline severity of anxiety in 48 patients, then deliver eight treatments over four sessions of focused ultrasound stimulation to the amygdala. Anxiety severity will be assessed using standard psychometric scales after each session, and at follow-ups.

The study will compare the effects that two different approaches of exposure therapy have on reducing fear and anxiety in individuals with social anxiety disorder or panic disorder.

The goal is to optimize peer coaching in order to optimize engagement and outcomes in digital therapy. The unmet mental health needs of community college students are staggering and a growing body of research demonstrates that therapy provided digitally with the assistance of trained community members without advanced degrees in mental health is an effective and scalable way to address these needs. Despite being effective for improving symptoms and functioning in those who engage in it, uptake and engagement in digital therapy is generally quite low. Recent research suggests that this is especially true of Latinx individuals, who tend to have unique and significant unmet mental health needs. To address these issues, Project 2 will examine treatment engagement, treatment satisfaction, symptoms and functioning outcomes among Latinx students at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) receiving digital therapy with peer coaching in the STAND program.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical decision-making algorithms for (a) triaging to level of care and (b) adapting level of care in a low income, highly diverse sample of community college students at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). The target enrollment is 200 participants per year, for five years (N=1000). Participants are between the ages of 18 and 40 years and will be randomized into either symptom severity decision-making (SSD) or data-driven decision-making (DDD). Participants in each condition will be triaged to one of three levels of care, including self-guided online prevention, coach-guided online cognitive behavioral therapy, and clinician-delivered care. After initial triaging, level of care will be adapted throughout the entire time of the study enrollment. Participants will complete computerized assessments and self-report questionnaires as part of the study. Recruitment will take place in the first two to four months of each academic year. The total length of participation is 40 weeks.