Reward Function and Therapy for Late-Life Depression

Major Depressive Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title: Positive Valence System Function and Reward Exposure Therapy for Late-Life Depression

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The goal of this study is to learn about changes in the brain that occur during Engage, a psychotherapy for depression in older adults, and how they may differ from changes that occur during supportive therapy. Older adults with depression will receive 9 weeks of either Engage or supportive therapy and will complete research assessments before the therapy begins and at weeks 3, 6, and 9 of treatment. Research assessments will include questionnaires, computer tasks, and recordings of electrical brain activity (also called electroencephalography or EEG).

Clinical Trial Description

Late-life depression is prevalent and devastating, and response rates to even the most effective treatments are low. Outcomes may be improved by developing targeted interventions such as Engage - a new, easily disseminated, neurobiologically informed psychotherapy for late-life depression designed to restore impaired function of neural reward systems. This study will use event-related potentials and a panel of other reward system measures to assess target engagement in depressed older adults receiving Engage therapy, with a comparison group of depressed peers receiving supportive therapy. Participants will be randomly assigned to either Engage or supportive therapy and will complete research assessments at baseline and weeks 3, 6, and 9 (end of treatment). ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Depression
• Depressive Disorder
• Depressive Disorder, Major
• Major Depressive Disorder

• NCT number: NCT03688139
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Weill Medical College of Cornell University
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: March 14, 2019
• Completion date: January 18, 2024