View clinical trials related to Depressive Disorder.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to better understand how low-level light therapy (LLLT) can be used to augment the antidepressant effects of Deprexis, an internet-based treatment program for depression, for participants with current major depressive disorder. The researchers will administer active and placebo LLLT to the right forehead of participants who show an improvement of at least 10% in depressive symptoms from baseline after two weeks of Deprexis treatment. Hypothesis: Participants who receive active LLLT will show a greater reduction of depressive symptoms than participants who receive placebo LLLT.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders. However, despite continued advances in ECT technique, neurocognitive dysfunction continues to be a frequent adverse effect. Declarative memory and less so selective memory are often impaired after an ECT course. Immediate memory, however, is broadly preserved. It is hypothesized that memory impairments are due to ECT induced disruptions on long term potentiation as well as in cerebral flux and glutamatergic and cholinergic systems. Different pharmacological agents for the treatment of ECT induced cognitive dysfunction have been tried. Agents such as opioids, vasopressin, neuropeptides, cholinergic agents, thyroid hormone, and stimulants have been used with equivocal results, and no controlled studies showed clear efficacy. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive, painless brain stimulation treatment that uses direct electrical currents to stimulate specific parts of the brain. Electrical currents are applied constantly at low intensities (1-2 mA) over a long period, usually in minutes (5-30 minutes), to achieve changes in cortical excitability by influencing spontaneous neural activity. There are two types of stimulation with tDCS: anodal and cathodal stimulation. Anodal stimulation acts to excite neuronal activity while cathodal stimulation inhibits or reduces neuronal activity. Several studies demonstrated moderate to strong effect sizes of tDCS in various neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric settings. Majority of studies show positive effects of tDCS on cognitive functioning among healthy volunteers and subjects with neurological or psychiatric conditions. Beneficial effects of online stimulation applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex have been reported for working memory, attention and information processing in depressed patients. To the investigators' knowledge no studies have evaluated the potential efficacy of tDCS for the prevention of ECT induced cognitive adverse effects. In the current study, the investigators propose a double blind, randomized controlled trial to test the use of tDCS as a strategy to prevent or mitigate the memory impairments frequently associated with an ECT course.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a novel non-invasive brain stimulation treatment that is effective with no significant side effects. It can potentially be self-administered by patients in their own homes with remote monitoring, substantially reducing treatment costs and increasing accessibility, including to remote areas. This study will evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of home-administered tDCS treatment for depression.
Depressive symptoms are common in cancer survivors; 15% or more of cancer patients, even 1 year after diagnosis, experience depressive symptoms that can have a negative impact on their quality of life. Canadian care guidelines for cancer survivors recommend supporting the active engagement of survivors in their self-care. This study is an evaluation of the effect of a depression self-care program which includes a self-care toolkit and support in the form of regular telephone calls from a self-care coach. The toolkit contains tools that help cancer survivors: 1. Learn new information to better understand depression. This can help people feel that they are not alone, and that their experience is not abnormal. Better understanding a condition also helps people feel more confident in their communications with health care professionals and can make it easier to share their experience with family and friends. 2. Learn and practice new coping skills. This can help people feel confident that they can engage in the behaviours that have been shown to be beneficial for mood, e.g. restructuring thoughts, problem solving, and planning pleasant activities. People eligible for the study are aged 18 and over, 1-10 years post-diagnosis, have completed primary cancer treatment (chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery) for any type of cancer, and have moderate depressive symptoms (as measured by a Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score of 8-19). Recruitment will be conducted at cancer care centres in Montreal and at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, and via community cancer support groups in Quebec and Ontario. Each participant enrolled in the study will receive the self-care toolkit (half will receive the toolkit and support calls at the start of the study, and half will receive the toolkit at the end), and will be followed for 6 months. This proposed self-care program is innovative in its approach to the treatment of depression and has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for Canadian cancer survivors with persistent depressive symptoms. The results of the study will determine whether the supported depression self-care program for cancer survivors is effective. The program is designed to be sustainable and widely applicable as it involves minimal costs, and the coaching can be delivered by telephone by volunteers in hospital and community settings. Investigators will work with clinical stakeholders and patient representatives to ensure that deliverables are relevant to the target population. Specific deliverables (in both French and English) include: a toolkit with a manual describing its use; a manual detailing coaching procedures; reports for decision makers and community cancer care groups; and short summaries for stakeholder groups.
This is an investigator led, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled, double arm comparator study.
To assess the prevalence of anxiety / depression in post- hospital for parents (mothers and fathers) of children with tracheotomy before the age of 1 year between 2000 and 2012.
Women have double the odds of getting depressed as men and commonly experience depression during the childbearing and early parenting years. Many new and expectant mothers who experience depression never receive help. Alma is a new program, collaboratively developed by a team of researchers, clinicians, and mothers who have personal experience with depression, to support women experiencing depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period. In the Alma program, mothers who themselves have experienced and recovered from depression during the perinatal period, are trained to provide peer mentoring to depressed new and expectant mothers. Peer mentors are trained by professionals who are experts in using skills to recover from depression. These skills are informed by an evidence-based framework called Behavioral Activation (BA). Peer mentors do not provide psychotherapy and are not licensed mental health providers.
The purpose of this study is to locate clinical markers (for example, interviews, questionnaires, and computer tasks) and biological markers (for example, physiological, blood-based, or electroencephalography measurements) that predict response to cognitive behavioral therapy for depression.
Although negatively biased attention has a central theoretical and empirical role in the maintenance of depression, there are few behavioral treatments that successfully target and improve this deficit. The current proposal builds upon prior work and aims to further develop an attention bias modification intervention. The investigators propose to develop a highly specific intervention that directly targets negative attention bias and the neurobiology that supports it, using cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience to inform treatment development and improve quality of life of patients whose psychopathology is maintained by negative attention bias.
A prospective, multi-center, randomized, subject and outcome evaluator blind , parallel-group study evaluating the effect of pharmacogenetic-guided versus standard of care treatment for subjects diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety disorders.