View clinical trials related to Schizoaffective Disorder.
Filter by:Patients suffering from schizophrenia who attend the communication skills program engage more deeply in therapeutic reasoning and treatment decisions. This results in stronger preferences to participate, greater perceived involvement and better long term adherence compared to patients who do not attend the training.
Environmental risk factors for the development of schizophrenia include infections during the perinatal period or later in life with Toxoplasma gondii (TG) being one of the candidate agents. A recent review (Torrey and Yolken, 2003) on TG in schizophrenia and other serious mental disorder reported higher antibodies to TG in patients compared to controls in 18 of 19 studies, one having been conducted by the investigators group. In a second, independent study on first-episode schizophrenia (n=56) and control subjects (n=32), sera were sampled and standard instruments used to assess diagnoses and psychopathology, respectively to screening controls. For the total sample, contacts with animals during pregnancy and age emerged as a non-significant predictors of TG IgG titers. Means of patients' and controls' TG IgG titers did not differ significantly but variances did; a subgroup of patients' titers reached much higher levels than those of controls. Patients in the high TG IgG subgroup were older (p=0.001), also they were older when psychiatric symptoms appeared, more individuals had regular animal contacts during pregnancy, or rural upbringing including regular animal contact, more consumption of raw meat, and a higher absolute treatment response (all trend levels). Regarding the short term course of patients, the investigators detected decreasing IgG titers in several individuals A power analysis demonstrated that results fell short of significance due to lack of statistical power. Based on the power analysis, the investigators propose an opel label, multicenter study at three regionally different sites within Germany (Halle, Hamm, Heidelberg). The investigators intent to study 173 first-episode patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, and schizophreniform disorder and 173 matched controls. The investigators hypothesize that - according to the heterogeneity of the illness - a subgroup of patients will exhibit higher TG IgG titers compared to the remaining patients and to controls; that this subgroup will have had regular contact with animals during pregnancy and early life as well as developmental delays; and that clinical improvement, response to treatment, and subjective well-being will run parallel with TG IgG decrease. Patients shall be assessed on admission to hospital, at discharge and at 6- and 12-month-follow-up with respect to TG antibody titers, symptomatology, neuropsychology, predictors of outcome, quality of life, and neurological soft signs. In controls two assessments shall be performed, 12 months apart. All foreseen assessments will be performed using standard measurement instruments with sound reliability and validity such as the SCID and the PANSS. Exposure to cats, other warm-blooded life-stock, and raw meat will be assessed using a special questionnaire.
In the last decade cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches for patients with schizophrenia have been developed, which where especially designed to reduce severity of positive symptoms, readmission rates, treatment non-compliance and disability. Although CBT addresses the key problems of early onset psychoses (EOP)treatment and first evaluations of CBT in adults with schizophrenia are promising, no experience with CBT in adolescents with EOP are available. Therefore the present study is conducted to develop a modified CBT (mCBT) for adolescents with EOP, to explore its acceptance and feasibility and to provide data for a realistic estimation of achievable effect size. Patients are randomized to receive either mCBT+TAU or TAU over a 9 month period. mCBT is an individual outpatient treatment of 20 session and 5 psychoeducational sessions with parents. Follow-ups for two years every 6 months are planned.
This is a double blind randomized investigation of donepezil for patients suffering from schizophrenia, undergoing ECT. Patients will be randomized to receive either donezepil or plasebo, in order to gauge whether donezepil has a protective effect on memory disfunction, while patients are treated with ECT. Several parameters will be invistigated at baseline: general psychopathological measures, memory function scales, side effects scales. The same measurements will be taken throughout the trial and one month after ending the ECT.
The following study addresses the hypothesis that cognitive-behavioral interventions will be effective in reducing positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia under the conditions of the German health care system. It is also hypothesized that interventions designed to reduce delusions will reduce cognitive biases and dysfunctional self-concepts.
This study is based on the hypothesis that by increasing N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor function in the brain and thereby increasing the capacity of the brain to both form new connections and strengthen existing connections, schizophrenic patients may derive both greater and sustained benefit from cognitive retraining.
The goals of this study are to replicate previous findings of genetic predictors of response to clozapine and other antipsychotic drugs.
The goal of the present study is to evaluate the effect of D-serine, added to antipsychotic treatment, on negative and cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia. The investigators are hypothesizing that D-serine will improve cognitive functioning and negative symptoms.
This large ongoing study at NIMH investigates the neurobiology of schizophrenia by identifying susceptibility genes, evaluating their impact on brain function to better understand how to treat and prevent this illness.