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RecruitingNCT07217925Updated Aug 19, 2026

Neurofeedback and Well-Being Among People With Co-Occurring Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms

An interventional study of Neuroptimal (Zengar, Inc.) Neurofeedback in Well-Being, Psychological, Mood Disturbance and Emotional Regulation, sponsored by Wayne State University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 90 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-19.

Primary conditionEmotional RegulationRegistry: Psychological Well-BeingReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Psychological Well-Being — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Emotional Regulation
Why
  1. Psychological Well-Being is a broad heading, used only when no more specific condition is named.
  2. The study's listed conditions name Emotional Regulation.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Wayne State University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Nov 2025; still recruiting 1 year later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 90 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The proposed study will collect novel data evaluating the feasibility of a neurofeedback training program delivered to prospective clients with a history of clinically concerning trauma-related mental health symptoms who are on a wait list to receive obsessive compulsive disorder-specific psychotherapy at an outpatient mental health clinic. This study will evaluate the influence of neurofeedback training on participant's overall sense of well-being, and additionally, whether any enhanced well-being is subsequently associated with positive changes in symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress, dissociation and other trauma-related mental health symptoms, emotional regulation, etc.

02

Conditions studied

  • Well-Being, Psychological
  • Mood Disturbance
  • Emotional Regulation
  • Dissociation
  • Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms

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03

In context

Emotional Regulation Reclassified

545 studies on the registry are indexed under Emotional Regulation; 188 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 79 across 498 interventional studies indexed under Emotional Regulation.

Browse Emotional Regulation studies →

Lead sponsor

Wayne State University is the lead sponsor of 230 studies on the registry; 35 are open to participants now.

Of its 17 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 4 (24%) have results posted.

Compared within Emotional Regulation, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Psychological Well-Being. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 90 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. being a client placed on the clinic waitlist to receive exposure-response prevention for OCD symptoms at the Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center of Ann Arbor, in Ann Arbor, MI.
  2. having self-reported symptoms of OCD;
  3. having post-traumatic stress symptoms as indicated by a score of 3 or higher on the Primary Care PTSD Screen for (PC-PTSD-5) screening measure;
  4. being age 18+.
  5. being a citizen of the United States of America -

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. a lifetime history of significant untreated mental illness (not currently treated schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or substance use disorder) or neurological or pervasive developmental disorder;
  2. a documented history of epilepsy;
  3. lifetime history of any head injury with loss of consciousness;
  4. current exposure domestic or intimate partner violence or otherwise state that their current living conditions are unsafe;
  5. current experiences of psychosis or suicidality within the last six months;
  6. currently taking, or in the past month has taken benzodiazepines, narcotic drugs, or cannabis;
  7. currently pregnant
  8. engagement in self-harming behaviors in the last 3 months that required medical attention;
  9. lack of competence to understand or consent to the study procedures;
  10. lack of fluency in written and spoken English. -
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Other
    Neurofeedback Training

    Participants in the Neurofeedback Training group will complete per-training, post-training, and post-training follow-up self-report surveys assessing overall well-being, symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress, OCD, dissociation and other trauma-related mental health symptoms, emotional regulation, etc. Participants in this group will all be on a wait list to receive obsessive compulsive disorder-specific psychotherapy at a local outpatient therapy clinic that specializes in the treatment of anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders. All participants will demonstrate clinically significant post-traumatic stress symptoms and have a self-reported diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder.

    Device: Neuroptimal (Zengar, Inc.) Neurofeedback

Interventions

  • DeviceNeuroptimal (Zengar, Inc.) Neurofeedback

    Participants in the Neurofeedback Training group will complete a total of 8 training sessions (1-2 sessions a week, each session lasting approximately 34 minutes) within a 3 month time span, using the Neuroptimal (Zengar, Inc.) neurofeedback device.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fith Edition (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 - Standard).

    This measure evaluates symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Minimum score = 0 Maximum score = 80 Higher scores mean a worse outcome.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  2. Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS)

    This 20-item measure evaluates moderate to severe levels of dissociative symptoms in four main domains: depersonalization, derealization, gaps in awareness or memory, and dissociative reexperiencing symptoms. Scores range from 0-80, with higher scores indicating worse outcomes.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  3. Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS; with Checklist)

    10-item measure evaluating severity of obsessive compulsive symptoms, with an accompanying checklist of symptom types. Scores range from 0-40 with higher scores indicating worse outcomes. Symptoms on the checklist are categorized, and indicate different OCD symptom clusters or sub-types that respondents may experience.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  4. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)

    36-item measure evaluating challenges with emotional regulation. Scores range from 36-180, with higher scores indicating worse outcomes.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  5. The World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5)

    5-item measure evaluating overall well-being. Scores range from 0-25, with higher scores indicating better outcomes.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  6. Patient Health Questionnaire - 8 (PHQ-8)

    8-item measure evaluating depressive symptoms. Scores range from 0-24, with higher scores indicating worse outcomes.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  7. GAD-7

    7-item measure evaluating anxiety symptoms. Scores range from 0-21, with higher scores indicating worse outcomes.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

  8. Everyday Discrimination Scale

    9-item measure evaluating experiences of discrimination. Scores range from 9-54, with higher scores indicating more frequent experiences of discrimination.

    Time frame: The measure will be administered three intervals: 1) per-training, at the beginning of the study, 2) post-training, between 2-3 months later, following the completion of the training phase, 3) as a follow-up, 3 months after the post-training interval.

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Wayne State University
    Detroit, Michigan 48202, United States
    Recruiting
    • Lisa S · Contact
    • Lisa s Panisch, PhD · Principal investigator
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 19, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07217925
Responsible party
Lisa S. Panisch, PhD, MSW (Assistant Professor, Wayne State University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 20, 2025
Start date
Nov 1, 2025
Primary completion
Jun 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 19, 2026

Study contacts

Lisa S Panisch, PhD
Contact
hj1429@wayne.edu
3135774409

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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