View clinical trials related to Late Life Depression.
Filter by:This study seeks to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a Problem Solving Therapy intervention for the treatment of late life depression (LLD). Participants diagnosed with LLD will participate in 8 weekly sessions of Problem Solving Therapy, a form of talk-therapy, over a period of eight weeks. A Case Manager (CM) trained in this therapy will lead the PST sessions. Participants will attend a clinical assessment pre and post study intervention to assess depression severity, quality of life, anxiety, insomnia, functional disability, and participant's acceptability of the intervention. Additionally self-rated depression will be collected weekly over 8 weeks.
Late-life depression affects 2-8% of seniors and causes high rates of caregiver distress and risk of suicide. To exacerbate the problem, antidepressants, the cornerstone of therapy, are resistant in 55-80% of this population. Hence, this group of patients is labeled as having treatment-resistant late-life depression (TR-LLD). Non-pharmacological interventions like meditation could offer significant benefits as augmentation strategies to improve response rate of antidepressants in TR-LLD. One such breath-based meditation intervention called Sudarshan Kriya Yoga is of interest based on highly significant preliminary data in adult patients with treatment-resistant depression, its scalability and relatively low cost to learn this lifelong skill. Thirty patients diagnosed with TR-LLD will learn this intervention over 5 consecutive days by a certified para-professional trainer. This will be followed by 3 weekly 90 min follow-up sessions and then bimonthly sessions for 8 more weeks. SKY consists of a series of breathing techniques, including Sudarshan Kriya (SK), a sequential rhythm-specific breathing exercise. Participants will be asked to practice this technique for 25-30 minutes daily over the next 11 weeks. The investigators will collect clinical as well as feasibility outcome measures. The investigators will also explore if it is feasible to assess the antioxidant Glutathione (GSH) in the brain using a sophisticated magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The investigators suspect that GSH levels are reduced in TR-LLD and they will improve with SKY.
The purpose of this research study is to assess which antidepressants work the best in older adults who have treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
Background: Depression in the elderly, also known as late life depression (LLD) is common and its prevalence ranges from 2 to 6% in the community. Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a physiological autonomic variable is reduced in LLD and this might have implications for cardiovascular events including death. Methods to improve HRV in LLD have not been adequately assessed. Automatic Self-Transcending Meditation (ASTM) is a simple yet powerful technique that allows the mind to become calm and peaceful. HRV biofeedback is a method of teaching individuals to voluntarily improve HRV and other physiological functions to a prescribed range.This pilot study attempts to investigate feasibility of these interventions and provide preliminary data regarding the effectiveness of these techniques. Hypothesis: ASTM and HRV biofeedback are feasible and their effectiveness for improving HRV in patients with LLD can be assessed. Methods: Participants with LLD between the ages of 66 and 80 will be randomized to either ASTM or HRV biofeedback after optimizing them on antidepressant therapy. Participants will receive training and continue practice in either of these techniques over a period of twelve weeks. HRV and secondary measures will be assessed pre and post at the end of study period. Expected Results and Significance: The investigators expect to find both techniques to be feasible treatments for those with LLD. Results from this pilot study will help to assess the potential for successful implementation of a future larger study which will evaluate the efficacy of these treatments for improving HRV.
To investigate whether fish oil supplementation, compared to placebo (olive oil), could have better effects on depression course and cognitive function in older people with major depression.
This study will determine the changes in brain structure and function that are responsible for mood and cognition changes that are sometimes associated with late-life depression.