Faculty Bibliography
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96
Sensory over-responsivity and orbitofrontal cortex connectivity in obsessive-compulsive disorder
BACKGROUND:Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with illness severity and functional impairment. However, the neural substrates of SOR in OCD have not yet been directly probed. METHODS:We examined resting-state global functional connectivity markers of SOR in 119 adults with OCD utilizing the CONN-fMRI Functional Connectivity Toolbox for SPM (v21a). We quantified SOR with the sensory sensitivity and sensory avoiding subscales of the Adult and Adolescent Sensory Profile (AASP). We also measured: OCD severity, with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R); sensory phenomena with the Sensory Phenomena Scale (SPS); general anxiety, with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI); and depressive symptomatology, with Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms, Self-Report (QIDS-SR). RESULTS:There was a significant positive relationship of SOR with global connectivity in anterior and medial OFC (Brodmann's area 11, k = 154, x = 14, y = 62, z = -18, whole-brain corrected at FWE p < 0.05). LIMITATIONS/CONCLUSIONS:Future investigations should explore neural responses to sensory stimulation tasks in OCD and compare findings with those obtained in other conditions also characterized by high SOR, such as autism spectrum disorder. CONCLUSIONS:This study implicates OFC functional connectivity as a neurobiological mechanism of SOR in OCD and suggests that the substrates of SOR in OCD may be dissociable from both that of other symptoms in OCD, and SOR in other disorders. With replication and extension, the finding may be leveraged to develop and refine treatments for OCD and investigate the pathophysiology of SOR in other conditions.
PMID: 38382815
ISSN: 1573-2517
CID: 5634382
The Human Affectome
Over the last decades, the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences has seen proliferation rather than integration of theoretical perspectives. This is due to differences in metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions about human affective phenomena (what they are and how they work) which, shaped by academic motivations and values, have determined the affective constructs and operationalizations. An assumption on the purpose of affective phenomena can be used as a teleological principle to guide the construction of a common set of metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions-a framework for human affective research. In this capstone paper for the special issue "Towards an Integrated Understanding of the Human Affectome", we gather the tiered purpose of human affective phenomena to synthesize assumptions that account for human affective phenomena collectively. This teleologically-grounded framework offers a principled agenda and launchpad for both organizing existing perspectives and generating new ones. Ultimately, we hope Human Affectome brings us a step closer to not only an integrated understanding of human affective phenomena, but an integrated field for affective research.
PMID: 37925091
ISSN: 1873-7528
CID: 5607222
Associations Between Suicidality and Interoception in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
BACKGROUND/UNASSIGNED:Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are at increased risk for suicide. One potential risk factor is interoceptive sensibility (IS), which is one's subjective experience of bodily sensations. The current study examined the relationship between IS and current suicidal ideation and lifetime history of suicide attempt, controlling for relevant covariates. METHODS/UNASSIGNED:= 145) were a clinical sample of individuals with OCD from the New York City area. A clinical rater administered a diagnostic interview and an OCD severity assessment, and participants completed questionnaires about demographics, IS, and suicidality. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED:Current suicidal ideation was associated with reduced trusting of the body, and lifetime history of suicide attempt was related to greater general awareness of sensation. These associations remained significant after controlling for covariates. CONCLUSIONS/UNASSIGNED:These results suggest that specific facets of IS may be associated with specific domains of suicidality. Decreased body trusting may represent a feeling of disconnection from the body that facilitates desire for death. Increased noticing of bodily sensations may lead to greater mental pain, which could interact with deficits in emotion regulation to increase risk for suicide attempt. Further research on the relationships between IS and suicidality in OCD is warranted.
PMCID:10610034
PMID: 37901053
ISSN: 2211-3649
CID: 5736422
Correction: The functional connectome in obsessive-compulsive disorder: resting-state mega-analysis and machine learning classification for the ENIGMA-OCD consortium
PMID: 37582859
ISSN: 1476-5578
CID: 5619162
Failures of Urge Suppression in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Behavioral Modeling Using a Blink Suppression Task
Many individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) report sensory-based urges (e.g. 'not-just-right experiences') in addition to, or instead of, concrete fear-based obsessions. These sensations may be comparable to normative "urges-for-action" (UFA), such as the urge to blink. While research has identified altered functioning of brain regions related to UFA in OCD, little is known about behavioral patterns of urge suppression in the disorder. Using an urge-to-blink task as a model for sensory-based urges, this study compared failures of urge suppression between OCD patients and controls by measuring eyeblinks during 60-second blocks of instructed blink suppression. Cox shared frailty models estimated the hazard of first blinks during each 60-second block and recurrent blinks following each initial erroneous blink. OCD patients demonstrated a higher hazard of first and recurrent blinks compared to controls, suggesting greater difficulty resisting repetitive sensory-based urges. Within OCD, relationships between task outcomes and symptom severity were inconsistent. Findings provide support for a deficit in delaying initial urge-induced actions and terminating subsequent actions in OCD, which is not clearly related to clinical heterogeneity. Elucidating the nature of behavioral resistance to urges is relevant for informing conceptualizations of obsessive-compulsive psychopathology and optimizing treatment outcomes.
PMCID:10373599
PMID: 37521712
ISSN: 2211-3649
CID: 5545172
Cognitive Neuroscience of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Cognitive neuroscientific research has the ability to yield important insights into the complex neurobiological processes underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This article provides an updated review of neuroimaging studies in seven neurocognitive domains. Findings from the literature are discussed in the context of obsessive-compulsive phenomenology and treatment. Expanding our knowledge of the neural mechanisms involved in OCD could help optimize treatment outcomes and guide the development of novel interventions.
PMID: 36740355
ISSN: 1558-3147
CID: 5420682
Associations of medication with subcortical morphology across the lifespan in OCD: Results from the international ENIGMA Consortium
BACKGROUND:Widely used psychotropic medications for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may change the volumes of subcortical brain structures, and differently in children vs. adults. We measured subcortical volumes cross-sectionally in patients finely stratified for age taking various common classes of OCD drugs. METHODS:The ENIGMA-OCD consortium sample (1081 medicated/1159 unmedicated OCD patients and 2057 healthy controls aged 6-65) was divided into six successive 6-10-year age-groups. Individual structural MRIs were parcellated automatically using FreeSurfer into 8 regions-of-interest (ROIs). ROI volumes were compared between unmedicated and medicated patients and controls, and between patients taking serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), tricyclics (TCs), antipsychotics (APs), or benzodiazepines (BZs) and unmedicated patients. RESULTS:Compared to unmedicated patients, volumes of accumbens, caudate, and/or putamen were lower in children aged 6-13 and adults aged 50-65 with OCD taking SRIs (Cohen's d = -0.24 to -0.74). Volumes of putamen, pallidum (d = 0.18-0.40), and ventricles (d = 0.31-0.66) were greater in patients aged 20-29 receiving APs. Hippocampal volumes were smaller in patients aged 20 and older taking TCs and/or BZs (d = -0.27 to -1.31). CONCLUSIONS:Results suggest that TCs and BZs could potentially aggravate hippocampal atrophy of normal aging in older adults with OCD, whereas SRIs may reduce striatal volumes in young children and older adults. Similar to patients with psychotic disorders, OCD patients aged 20-29 may experience subcortical nuclear and ventricular hypertrophy in relation to APs. Although cross-sectional, present results suggest that commonly prescribed agents exert macroscopic effects on subcortical nuclei of unknown relation to therapeutic response.
PMID: 36041582
ISSN: 1573-2517
CID: 5332112
Relationships between interoceptive sensibility and resting-state functional connectivity of the insula in obsessive-compulsive disorder
Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit abnormality in their subjective perception of internal sensation, a process known as interoceptive sensibility (IS), as well as altered functioning of the insula, a key neural structure for interoception. We investigated the multivariate structure of IS in 77 OCD patients and 53 controls and examined associations of IS with resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the insula within the OCD group. For each group, principal component analysis was performed on 8 subscales of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness assessing putatively "adaptive" and "maladaptive" aspects of IS. Associations between IS components and insula FC in the OCD group were evaluated using seed regions placed in each of 3 subdivisions of the insula (posterior, anterior dorsal, and anterior ventral). Behaviorally, controls showed a 2-component solution broadly categorized into "adaptive" and "maladaptive" IS, while OCD patients exhibited a 3-component solution. The general tendency to notice or be aware of sensation loaded onto an "adaptive" IS component in controls but loaded onto both "adaptive" and "maladaptive" IS components in OCD. Within OCD, insula FC was differentially associated with distinct aspects of IS, identifying network connections that could serve as future targets for the modulation of IS in OCD.
PMID: 35257146
ISSN: 1460-2199
CID: 5183432
Expanding the heuristic neurocircuit-based taxonomy to guide treatment for OCD: reply to the commentary "Probing the genetic and molecular correlates of connectome alterations in obsessive-compulsive disorder" [Letter]
PMID: 35665765
ISSN: 1476-5578
CID: 5248182
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Treatment Based on Neurocircuits
Psychiatric disorders affect close to 30% of the global population and ac-count for more than 7% of the global burden of disease. To address this prob-lem, new treatment approaches are re-quired that target the heterogeneity of psychiatric conditions and their un-derlying neurobiological bases. In this article, we use obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as an example to sum-marize recent conceptual work that has attempted to offer solutions to better understanding heterogeneity and improving effectiveness of psychiatric treatments. Specifically, we highlight hypothetical "clinical profiles" of OCD that are based on neurocognitive alter-ations (eg, dysregulated fear), which are underpinned by dysfunctions in specific neurocircuits (eg, hyperactive frontolimbic circuit function) and could be ameliorated with neurocircuit-based treatments. While this model of OCD is not yet ready for clinical use, this approach to understanding OCD may be helpful for clinicians in understanding individual patients under their care and the mechanisms involved in different treatments for OCD.
SCOPUS:85136272017
ISSN: 0048-5713
CID: 5311852
