View clinical trials related to Mental Disorders.
Filter by:A focus of research for youth and Emerging Adults with early phase psychosis (EPP) has been cannabis use. However, this focus has led to overlooking the possible negative influence of another legal recreational drug, alcohol. Previous studies our research group has done have demonstrated that over use of alcohol reduces the effectiveness of early intervention in psychosis treatment services. These treatment services are wrap around services that address medical, and social needs of young people with psychosis. Individuals with alcohol use disorder and EPP have fewer positive symptoms such as hallucinations which are the aspects of psychotic disorders that respond most readily to medication but have greater levels of depressive symptoms. Biologically, we can see the negative impact of alcohol on brain structure in our MRI studies. Our aim presented in this grant is to pilot a psychosocial intervention using cognitive enhancement therapy to reduce alcohol consumption in individuals with early phase psychosis. This intervention has shown promise in reducing alcohol use in individuals with long standing schizophrenia and compare it to treatment as usual which involves brief (1 session) psychoeducation. The investigators hope to reduce substance use in young people in the early stages of a psychotic disorder and improve their odds of a full recovery. In addition to measuring symptoms and hospitalizations, this trial will measure what are called social determinants of health such as return to school or work and resumption of relationships. These variables have not been measured previously in alcohol use interventions in this population but in our experience are the best indicators of long term recovery from psychosis. The symptoms will generally improve with antipsychotic drug treatment but reach a threshold after 6 months in most individuals who engage with our 5 year program. Further functional and social recovery seem to be the best determinants of a full return to health in this population.
Research Hypothesis: Living conditions during COVID-19, and lockdowns and curfews impact the psychological state of patients (assessed by the degree of depression, positive and negative thoughts, insomnia, state of post-traumatic stress).
The objective of this study is to adapt and evaluate the efficacy of Familiar Metacognitive Training (MCTf) in mothers and adolescent children in a group context with the main purpose of improving family relationships, cognitive awareness and symptoms of women with psychosis and the knowledge of the disease by the children. Secondary objectives: to evaluate the improvement in metacognition and social cognition, symptoms, protective factors and self-perception of stigma.
The heterogeneity of depression suggests that several different neurocircuits and pathophysiological mechanisms are involved. Anhedonia - the inability to experience pleasure from, or the lack of motivation to carry out, usually enjoyable activities - is a promising endophenotype within the depression spectrum, with a distinct pathophysiology involving dopaminergic mesolimbic projections. Anhedonia is common in depression and associated with treatment resistance. Pramipexole, an agonist to the dopamine -receptor 3, is an established treatment of Parkinson's disease. Based on its mechanism of action, pramipexole might be efficacious in a subtype of depression characterized by anhedonia and lack of motivation - symptoms linked to dopaminergic hypofunction. This is supported by animal data, clinical experience, and recent pilot study data, but randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are lacking. In this double-blind placebo-controlled RCT the anti-anhedonic and antidepressant effects of add-on pramipexole will be tested, using an "enriched population study design" including only depressed patients with significant anhedonia. To better understand the neurobiology of anhedonia in depression and to identify treatment predictors, simultaneous assessments of anhedonia-related neurocircuitry using (f)MRI will be done, and anhedonia-related biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid analyzed. The aim of the study is to confirm the efficacy of pramipexole in this depression subtype, which would be an important step towards personalized medicine in psychiatry.
REM sleep behavior disorder is a novel and distinct parasomnia characterized by recurrent dream enactment behaviors (DEBs) and polysomnographic features of REM sleep without atonia (RSWA), with typical onset age at early 60's. Idiopathic RBD (iRBD) has been suggested as a most specific precursor of α-synucleinopathy-related neurodegeneration (e.g. Parkinson's disease (PD)). There are increasing reports of positive familial cases in both iRBD and PD. In the past few years, the investigators have established the baseline data of a case-control family cohort of iRBD (208 first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with iRBD and 204 FDRs of controls). Not only did the investigators confirm the familial aggregation of iRBD with neurodegeneration and iRBD cases, the investigator also found that the FDRs harbored a spectrum of isolated RBD features (including DEBs, REM- sleep behavioral events, and RSWA). Besides, when compared with control-FDRs, iRBD-FDRs patients showed more prodromal markers of neurodegeneration (including possible/probable RBD, excessive daytime sleepiness, constipation, and subthreshold parkinsonism) as suggested by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) research criteria. The promising baseline findings paved the way for the current proposed prospective study of this unique family cohort. In addition, around 85 unaffected FDRs from each group has repeated the assessments at a mean follow-up duration of about 4 years (early termination of the study supported by RGC- ECS Ref no. 24117018; reason for early termination - ECS PI applicant left the University at early 2020), the preliminary data indicated a persistent familial aggregation of RBD symptoms, loading of prodromal markers (e.g. possible RBD, subthreshold parkinsonism), and a seemingly faster progression into prodromal RBD among the FDRs of iRBD than that of control. This current proposed study is a prospective study with a mean of 7-year follow-up interval to monitor the progression of α- synucleinopathy neurodegeneration and related markers. With the rolling recruitment, the investigators now have 230 control-FDRs and 250 iRBD-FDRs, from which the investigators expect 200 FDRs of each group may respond to the follow-up study. A series of prodromal markers related to neurodegeneration including clinical and sleep assessment (e.g. autonomic symptoms, motor signs, neurocognitive function, sleepiness, vPSG and one-week actigraphy) that were measured at baseline will be reassessed. Specifically, home PSG with a body-movement monitoring system will be additionally implemented in the proposed study to empower the identification of RBD features, especially during the COVID pandemic period at which hospital accessibility is restricted. In addition, the development of clinical neurodegenerative diseases will be ascertained. This proposed study, by recruiting FDRs of iRBD patients (and controls) with prospective study design, will provide novel and important information on the progression of prodromal makers of α-synucleinopathy neurodegenerative diseases in a high-risk population and facilitate further genetic/omics and future neuroprotective intervention study of the familial iRBD.
REM sleep behavior disorder is a novel and distinct parasomnia characterized by recurrent dream enactment behaviors (DEBs) and REM sleep without atonia (RSWA) during polysomnographic assessment, with a male predominance and typical onset age at early 60's. The majority of patients with idiopathic RBD (iRBD) will eventually develop α-synucleinopathy, for instance Parkinson's disease (PD). Thus, iRBD has been considered as a highly specific precursor of α-synucleinopathy-related neurodegeneration. Recently, increasing studies have found that some participants present with only RSWA or DEBs (but without sufficient RSWA), which does not meet the diagnostic criteria for RBD. It has been suggested that these participants with subclinical features (either DEBs or RSWA) might represent a condition known as prodromal RBD. Several emerging evidence, including our own study, have implied a link between isolated RSWA (RSWA without DEBs) and markers of α-synucleinopathy-related neurodegeneration. However, it is still unclear whether the other condition related to RBD, i.e. recurrent DEBs but without sufficient RSWA, is related to a certain degree of α-synucleinopathy. In this regard, the novel concept of recurrent DEBs but without sufficient RSWA, also termed as prodromal/isolated RBD by some researchers, requires validation by further evidence in terms of clinical feature and neurodegenerative prodromal markers perspectives.
The aim of this study is to correlate baseline gut microbiota features and the progression of neurodegeneration in the established cohort of patients with early Parkinson's disease.
This study aims to investigate the neural correlates (structural changes, functional connectivity, and structural connectivity of brain structures in prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia) of impulsivity by measuring structures and the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal of brain in response to impulsive tasks and task-free using functional Magnetic Resonance Image method among healthy controls, patient with prodromal PD (iRBD), and patients with PD.
Investigators will evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of modified Cognitive Behavioral Suicide Prevention for psychosis (CBSPp) in comparison to services-as-usual (SAU) in a randomized controlled trial. Investigators will recruit adult clients receiving services at a community mental health (CMH) setting who have a schizophrenia spectrum disorder and recent suicidal thoughts or behaviors within 3 months of screening (n=60). Client participants will be screened, enrolled and randomized to the CBSPp or SAU group. A 4-wave design will include quantitative assessments at baseline (T1), 1-month after baseline (T2), 3-months after baseline (T3), and 5-months after baseline (T4) with in-depth qualitative interviews at T3 for a random sample of adults in the CBSPp group (n=10). Providers (n=12) will be trained to deliver CBSPp and be assessed from T1-T3 to evaluate the implementation process, including in-depth qualitative interviews at T3.
This is an open-label, sequential cohorts, flexible dose study to evaluate the tolerability, safety and pharmacokinetics of iloperidone in elderly patients with Parkinson's disease psychosis (PDP).