Publications by authors named "S FitzSimmons"

Objective: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with altered brain function related to processing of negative emotions. To investigate neural correlates of negative valence in OCD, we pooled fMRI data of 633 individuals with OCD and 453 healthy controls from 16 studies using different negatively-valenced tasks across the ENIGMA-OCD Working-Group.

Methods: Participant data were processed uniformly using HALFpipe, to extract voxelwise participant-level statistical images of one common first-level contrast: negative vs.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explores how brain activation during symptom provocation tasks can predict the effectiveness of a combined treatment of rTMS and ERP for patients with treatment-resistant OCD.
  • Sixty-one adults with OCD participated in fMRI scans to measure brain activity in response to OCD-related stimuli before undergoing an 8-week treatment regimen, with multiple rTMS applied to different brain areas.
  • Results indicated that higher activation in the right amygdala prior to treatment was associated with a better response to therapy, while activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex had a negative association with treatment outcomes.
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Background: Non-invasive brain stimulation, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), is increasingly used in the treatment of neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders. Where rTMS is already an accepted treatment option for depression, in the Netherlands/Belgium, no consensus exist on the application of rTMS for (obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD who do not respond enough to exposure therapy and serotonergic antidepressants are in great need for treatment alternatives.

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Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has the potential to increase the clinical effect of exposure with response prevention psychotherapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We investigated the use of task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging for predicting clinical outcomes to different rTMS protocols combined with exposure with response prevention in OCD.

Methods: Sixty-one adults with OCD underwent rTMS and exposure with response prevention and were randomized to different high-frequency rTMS conditions: left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (n = 19), left presupplementary motor area (n = 23), and control stimulation at the vertex at low intensity (n = 19).

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Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an emerging treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The neurobiological mechanisms of rTMS in OCD have been incompletely characterized. We compared clinical outcomes and changes in task-based brain activation following 3 different rTMS protocols, all combined with exposure and response prevention.

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