View clinical trials related to Mood Disorders.
Filter by:This research protocol seeks to learn more about bipolar disorder in children and adolescents ages 6-17. Researchers will describe the moods and behaviors of children with bipolar disorder and use specialized testing and brain imaging to learn about specific brain changes associated with the disorder. This protocol studies children who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and those who have a sibling or parent with bipolar disorder and are thus considered "at risk" for developing the disorder.
This study investigates the potential efficacy of two nonpharmacologic treatments for nonseasonal depression, bright light exposure or high-density negative air ion exposure. Treatments are self-administered at home by the patient under close clinical supervision.
This study investigates the effects on symptoms of combined treatment with estrogen and progesterone in women with severe premenstrual syndrome (PMDD). Studies indicate that women with PMS experience improvement in symptoms following treatment with leuprolide acetate, when estrogen and progesterone levels are low. Women with PMS, but not women without the disorder, experience a return of symptoms within approximately a week after re-exposure to either estrogen or progesterone. The cause of this hormone-induced depression remains unclear. It is not known whether this depressed mood is due simply to the change in the levels of estrogen and progesterone and whether it would remit following continued exposure to stable levels of estrogen and progesterone. This study will determine whether the maintenance of stable hormone levels will prevent mood disturbances in women with PMS. Participants in this study will receive leuprolide acetate injections once a month for up to 6 months. After 2 months, women whose symptoms have improved will receive a skin patch containing either estrogen or placebo (an inactive substance) and will be asked to take daily suppositories containing either progesterone or placebo. Women whose symptoms of PMS do not respond to leuprolide treatment after 2 months will end the study and be offered other treatment. Participants will be seen by a nurse in the clinic every two weeks and will fill out ratings and have blood drawn to measure hormone levels.
St. John's Wort is a popular dietary supplement that many people take to elevate mood or relieve stress. This study will test in normal volunteers whether this preparation may alter mood and if so, by what means. Animal studies suggest that St. John's Wort may work similarly to some antidepressants that affect levels of the chemical serotonin in the brain. Participants in this study must also be enrolled in NIMH protocol #98-M-0094 (SPECT Imaging of Dopamine and Serotonin Transporters in Neuropsychiatric Patients and Normal Volunteers) and protocol #91-M-014 (MRI Imaging of Neuropsychiatric Patients and Controls). Separate consent forms are required for each study. Candidates will undergo medical and psychiatric evaluations that may include blood and urine tests, electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram. Normal volunteers will have a mood assessment at the beginning of the study. They will then be randomly assigned to take either placebo (a pill with no active ingredient) or St. John's Wort 3 times a day for 2 weeks, and will be told what they are taking. After an 11-week hiatus, they will again start treatment on the same schedule, but will not be told which preparation they are receiving. Each evening during the 2-week treatment periods, subjects will complete a brief self-rating mood assessment questionnaire. At the end of each treatment period, they will undergo SPECT brain imaging (a type of CT scan) to determine dopamine and serotonin distribution and density in the brain. For this procedure, study subjects take three drops of potassium iodide solution within 24 hours before the scan and two drops nightly for 3 days following the procedure. About 10 ml (less than two teaspoons) of blood are drawn before a radioactive tracer is injected. SPECT imaging is done the next day. After about 1 hour of imaging, subjects are given either a placebo or St. John's Wort, and then imaging continues for another 2 hours. During the procedure, up to five blood samples of 6 ml each may be drawn. At some point during the study, a MRI scan of the brain will be done.
Often women are prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) during the perimenopause or menopause. Hormone replacement therapy includes both estrogen and progesterone. The estrogen component of HRT helps to relieve the symptoms and has a beneficial effect on the heart and bones, but estrogen also increases the risk of uterine cancer. The progesterone component of the HRT (progestin) works to prevent the increased risk of uterine cancer. There is evidence that some women experience unpleasant mood symptoms (such as irritability, depressed mood and anxiety) while receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT) while taking the progestin / progesterone component of the HRT. This study is designed to evaluate the ability of progestins to produce negative mood symptoms in women. Researchers intend on doing this by comparing the effects of medroxyprogesterone acetate (Provera) and a placebo inactive sugar pill. Patient's moods will be monitered based on their response to questionnaires answered in the outpatient clinic and at home. This research will attempt to answer the following questions: 1. Are progestins associated with changes in mood during hormone replacement therapy? 2. If progestins are associated with mood disturbance, is it because they are blocking the beneficial effects of estrogen?
The dysregulated experience and expression of emotion is implicated in psychiatric disorders associated both with externalizing problems (aggressive, antisocial behaviors) and internalizing problems (anxiety, depression). Adolescence is a critical juncture in the development of these disorders because of the increased incidence and differentiation of clinical problems during this time period. This is a biobehavioral, longitudinal investigation of the role of emotion in the development of psychopathology in adolescence. The focus is on socialization experiences and biological processes that contribute to emotion dysregulation and disorder in male and female youths between 11 and 16 years of age. Groups studied include (1) comorbid externalizers and internalizers, (2) externalizers only, (3) internalizers only, and (4) asymptomatic youth. The adolescents are assessed again two years later, with instruments and paradigms similar to those used at Time 1. One theme pertains to the integration and disconnection of emotions across systems (e.g., physiological and self-report of experience), and how different patterns of emotion relate to psychopathology. A second theme pertains to development changes in how disorders are manifested (e.g., increased differentiation along gender specific pathways). The anticipated number of patient days per year is 240 for adolescents and mothers, and 120 days for fathers.
This study is designed to evaluate repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a potential treatment for depression. In rTMS, a rapidly changing magnetic field passes through your scalp and skull and generates a small electrical pulses in your brain. rTMS at lower intensities has helped some people with depression but we do not know what the results will be in your case using higher intensities, or whether you will be randomized to 3 weeks of high frequency (20 cycles er second), low frequency (1 cycle per second), or inactive (sham)rTMS. You will be assigned to receive one of these types of rTMS over the left front art of your brain five times per week for the three weeks. Each rTMS treatment session should take between 20-30 minutes of actual stimulation, but weekly ratings, memory testing, and blood sampling may require several hours per week. We will also ask you to have brain imaging procedures to see if these will predict response to high vs. low frequency rTMS. If you are randomized to the 3 weeks of sham rTMS, you will have the opportunity to receive one of the active stimulation frequencies for an additional 3 weeks. Responders to any phase will be offered an additional month of rTMS prior to study termination and recommendations of alternative treatments.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland. As humans grow older the levels of DHEA naturally decrease. Low levels of DHEA have been associated with a variety of harmful effects, including increased heart disease, decreased immune system function, decreased bone density (osteoporosis), high cholesterol, and increased fat to muscle ratio. Blood levels of DHEA and its sulfate form, DHEA-S, begin dropping when humans are in their 20's. By the time humans are in their 40's and 50's, levels of DHEA and DHEA-S levels are at 50% of their peak. Previous studies have shown that levels of these hormones are associated with feelings of "well-being" and enjoyment of "leisure" activities. In this study researchers are interested in the effects on mood and behavior of DHEA in men and women with mid-life related mood disorders. Specifically, researchers would like to find out if increasing levels of DHEA will lessen the symptoms associated with these disorders.
As the seasons change during the course of the year, many animals show major changes in their behavior and physiology. Many of these changes are triggered by changes in the length of time each night that the pineal gland produces the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is produced for a longer time in winter when nights are long, than in summer when nights are short. Some researchers believe that melatonin may play a similar role in how season effects mood of patients with seasonal affective disorder. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or mood disorder with seasonal pattern is a condition where the normal biorhythm is disturbed during a season, especially autumn-winter. Patients may begin experiencing or experience worsening of depressive symptoms. Patients complain of being constantly tired, craving sugary foods, overeating, and over sleeping. Researchers have collected some preliminary data showing that the duration of nighttime melatonin secretion increases in winter and decreases in summer in healthy women, but not in healthy men. However, men diagnosed with SAD have shown longer duration of melatonin secretion in the winter, similar to the duration seen in healthy women. If these early findings are confirmed it may explain why SAD is more common in women than in men. The purpose of this study is to continue researching the differences in melatonin secretion over the seasons in healthy men and women, and to determine how these findings may apply to patients with SAD.
This clinical study compares the effectiveness of two anticonvulsants Lamotrigine (Lamictal) Monotherapy and Gabapentin (Neurontin) in patients with treatment resistant affective disorders. We initially have found that the response rate to lamotrigine (51%) exceeded that of gabapentin (28%) or placebo (21%). In this study the placebo phase has been dropped so that we examine possible clinical and biological factors predictors of response. The drugs will be given in a randomized order for six weeks each and you will not know when you are on a given one. There will be a 2-4 week "washout" period between treatments. If you respond well to one of these treatments, a longer open continuation period will be offered at the end of this study. This would involve one or both drugs in combination. A variety of rating scales and brain imaging procedures will also be offered before and during each drug evaluation. Both lamotrigine and gabapentin are generally well tolerated. A serious potentially life threatening rash occurs in about 1/500 patients treated with lamotrigine, however. Common side effects are rash, dizziness, unsteadiness, double vision, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, sedation, and headache. These side effects are usually mild, and resolve with continued time on the drug or a decrease in dosage.