View clinical trials related to Psychosis.
Filter by:Many patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder have symptoms that persist, including hallucinations or delusions, despite adequate pharmacotherapy with antipsychotic drug. Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain that has been implicated in several brain diseases. NMDA antagonist drugs cause symptoms of psychosis in otherwise normal persons. It is postulated that reduced NMDA receptor mediated neurotransmission leads to an increase in synaptic glutamate. Excessive synaptic concentrations of glutamate can produce excitatory neurotoxicity. Agents which reduce excess glutamate activity are neuroprotective. This therapeutic strategy has been applied to schizophrenia through the use of compounds that reduce presynaptic release of glutamate or otherwise decrease excessive postsynaptic stimulation, including lamotrigine, memantine and a m-GLU-R2 agonist (LY354740) with the hypothesized result of a reduction in psychotic symptoms. Recently it was shown that a commonly available antibiotic (ceftriaxone) has the unique neuroprotective function of decreasing the amount of extracellular glutamate in nervous system tissue by increasing the number of glutamate transporter proteins. Our clinical experience with patients who have refractory psychosis and past Lyme disease indicates that in some patients psychosis may improve with IV ceftriaxone therapy. Whether this improvement was due to its antimicrobial or glutamate effect or a placebo effect is uncertain. In a placebo-controlled design, this study investigates the ability of ceftriaxone to decrease psychotic symptoms in patients with refractory psychotic disorders. In addition, the study will examine glutamatergic functional activity before and after treatment using brain imaging with magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
The primary aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a form of supported employment, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) compared to existing good quality rehabilitation and vocational services for people with psychotic illnesses in terms of ‘open’ employment outcomes (in the competitive labour market), and to examine its relative effectiveness in the context of different European welfare systems and labour markets. The primary hypothesis was that IPS patients would be more likely to obtain open employment than control service patients. Secondary hypotheses were that they would be in open employment for longer than the control patients, and that they would not spend more time in hospital.
The purpose of this study is determine the minimal effective dose and the impact on: 1. treatment outcomes at 4, 12 and/or 48 weeks the treatment has required to treat patients experiencing the first psychotic episode 2. the final maintenance doses 3. the use of other medications 4. the amount of changes to other antipsychotic medication 5. the number of hospitalization days
This open-label study will assess the medication Geodon® (Ziprasidone) in pediatric patients, aged 13-17, diagnosed with psychotic disorder. Eligible adolescents will receive Geodon® for 7 weeks and stay at the NYSPI Children's Day Unit (CDU) during the day. If clinically appropriate, they may also stay at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) Schizophrenia Research Unit (SRU) inpatient facility.
Cigarette smoking decreases life expectancy, causes devastating health complications, and costs society billions of dollars each year. These untoward consequences are especially pronounced among persons with schizophrenia (SCZ) because approximately 80% to 95% of this group smokes cigarettes. These high prevalence rates underscore the need for research investigating the determinants of smoking in patients with SCZ. Several researchers have observed that nicotine improves specific symptoms of SCZ including negative symptoms, negative affect, and cognitive deficits. This has led to the hypothesis that patients with SCZ smoke in an attempt to self-medicate. However, the mechanism(s) by which nicotine has its positive effect on symptoms remains unclear. The current proposal posits that neural inhibition (NI) is a physiological mechanism of this effect, while variation in the alpha-7-nicotinic receptor subunit gene (CHRNA7) represents the genetic underpinnings of these processes. The proposed study will assess NI and symptom improvement after acute administration of nicotine to both smokers and nonsmokers with SCZ. In addition, NI and CHRNA7 variation will be tested as predictors of patients' ability to reduce/quit smoking following smoking treatment. These data may lead to the development of new pharmacological strategies for treating the symptoms of SCZ and new methods for assisting these patients to quit smoking.
This study evaluates the safety and tolerability of Asenapine in elderly patients with psychosis.
The primary objective of this pilot study is to evaluate the impact of switching 30 subjects from an existing antipsychotic to risperidone long acting on healthcare resource utilization. The study will be a ten month open-label, 'mirror-image', pilot study. Healthcare resource utilization during the 10 months prior to starting risperidone long acting will be retrospectively collected for all subjects (period A) at the beginning of the study. The utilization of direct medical resources will also be collected for 10 months after initiation of risperidone long acting (period B). In this design the patients will serve as their own control.
We hypothesize that symptoms will improve in patients who meet diagnostic criteria for the schizophrenia prodrome when they are prescribed aripiprazole.
The purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to develop a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for persons with at risk mental states in the early initial prodromal state and to evaluate CBT in comparison to supportive counselling (SC).It is hypothesized that CBT is more effective than SC on transition to subthreshold psychosis, psychosis and schizophrenia as well as on prodromal symptoms and social adjustment.
This study examines the efficacy of haldol versus risperdal in the treatment of aggression in psychotic prison inmates. It is hypothsized that risperdal will be more effective in decreasing aggression than haldol.