Study name: Deep Phenotyping of Interoception in Adolescence: Making the Imperceptible Perceptible
Youths ages 12 to 17 and their parents are needed for a research study at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This study aims to characterize interoception (perception of internal sensations) in adolescents and learn whether therapeutic skills (e.g., mindfulness, relaxation training) delivered in virtual reality can improve interoceptive impairments in youths with anxiety, OCD, and anorexia compared to youths without these conditions.
This study involves 10 hours of participation across four visits to the Johns Hopkins East Baltimore campus.
There will be an initial phone screening assessment with the youths and their families interested in participating to gauge eligibility. Afterward, the first session of the study will be an in-person assessment during which children and families will complete an interview and questionnaires about psychiatric diagnoses and symptom severity. Participants will additionally complete several computer tasks to assess interoception and learning processes. Participants will then be invited back for a second visit during which they will complete additional questionnaires and computer tasks, and an MRI scan. Finally, participants will return for two more visits and be asked to complete computer and virtual reality tasks and learn cognitive and relaxation skills.
Youths and parents will collectively be compensated $50 for each assessment visit (up to $200 in total).
To learn more, email coach@jhmi.edu. (IRB00447147; Principal Investigator: Joseph McGuire, PhD).
