View clinical trials related to Psychotic Disorders.
Filter by:This study will examine the role of a brain chemical called norepinephrine in thinking, decision-making, and emotional processing. After norepinephrine is released from a brain cell, it binds to another brain cell's receptor. Some of the receptors it binds to are called alpha-2 adrenergic receptors. This study will use medicines called yohimbine and guanfacine to look at the function of norepinephrine in the brain when it binds to the alpha-2 adrenergic receptors. Yohimbine increases norepinephrine's function and guanfacine decreases its function. Healthy volunteers between 20 and 50 years of age who do not have heart disease, high blood pressure, psychiatric illness, or other serious medical conditions and who are not allergic to lactose may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical and psychiatric history, physical examination, neuropsychological testing, blood and urine tests and electrocardiogram. Women are screened with a urine pregnancy test. Participants are given a pill of yohimbine, guanfacine, or placebo and undergo the following tests and procedures: - Blood pressure and heart rate measurements: Blood pressure and heart rate are measured before the medication is taken and several times after. - Blood draws: Blood is drawn before the medicine is taken and 90 minutes after to measure levels of norepinephrine and the hormone cortisol. - Neurocognitive testing: Participants do neurocognitive tasks on the computer for up to 90 minutes. The tasks involve looking at pictures or words on a screen and responding according to instructions given. - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): Patients may undergo neurocognitive testing MRIs. This test uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to show changes in brain activity. The subject lies on a table that slides into a narrow cylinder (the MRI scanner). Images of the brain are obtained while the subject performs the computer tasks.
The goal of this research is to find ways to maximize the benefits of antipsychotic medications for cognition. Hypothesis: Risperidone and olanzapine will show greater benefits than conventional medications on assessments of social cognition, particularly affect perception and social perception.
This study examines whether patients with schizophrenia can benefit from a problem-solving training intervention and whether a work-related social skills training intervention leads to improvements in the patient's performance at work.
During a psychiatric crisis, persons with severe mental illness (SMI) confront complex challenges concerning treatment choices and are often ill equipped or unable to make mental health care decisions. Psychiatric Advance Directives (PADs) are legal documents that allow competent persons to declare their treatment preferences in advance of a mental health crisis, when they may lose capacity to make reliable health care decisions. The use of PADs is consistent with recommendations of the President�s New Freedom Commission on Mental Illness and the Patient Self-Determination Act; 25 states have now adopted PAD legislation. VA does not have a specific policy for PADs or mechanisms to notify veterans of their right to prepare PADs. The downstream effects of PADs on patient care, crisis management, service use, and clinical outcomes are unknown.
The purposes of this study are to assess the efficacy, safety, and side effects among doses approved by the Food and Drug Administration and higher (not FDA approved) doses of olanzapine in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether HIV and anti-HIV drugs cause mental health problems or make mental health problems worse in children and adolescents who were infected with HIV at birth.
The purpose of this clinical research study is to assess the safety and tolerability of aripiprazole in patients with psychosis associated with Parkinson's disease.
The primary purpose of this study is to compare the affects of aripiprazole and olanzapine on weight change.
The goals of this study are to: Determine the blood levels of intramuscular (IM) olanzapine depot in patients at different points in time after an injection, and compare these levels to the amount of olanzapine in the blood of patients after treated by oral administration with Zyprexa (olanzapine) tablets or by intramuscular administration with Zyprexa IntraMuscular (olanzapine for injection).
The purposes of this study are to determine: - The effectiveness of olanzapine as compared to quetiapine in treating and preventing the recurrence of a variety of symptoms of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder in patients who are obese or overweight. - The safety of olanzapine as compared to quetiapine.