Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show heightened brain activity in limbic and orbitofrontal regions when confronted with negative emotions, which could be associated with impairments in emotion regulation skills. The ability to regulate emotions is a necessary coping mechanism when facing emotionally distressing situations, and deliberate emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal have been extensively studied in the general population. Despite this, little is known about potential deliberate emotion regulation deficits in OCD patients and the associated neural correlates. Here, we describe a protocol to investigate the neural correlates of deliberate emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in OCD patients in comparison to a matched control sample. This protocol follows current gold standards for neuroimaging studies and includes both task activation and connectivity analysis (as well as behavioral data) to allow a more complete investigation. Therefore, we expect it will contribute to expanding the knowledge of the neural correlates of emotion (dys)regulation in OCD, and it could also be applied to explore emotion regulation deficits in other psychiatric disorders.