View clinical trials related to Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.
Filter by:This study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Virtual Reality Mindfulness in Patients With Psychosis.
In previous studies the neuropeptide oxytocin has been in particular associated with social enhancing and anxiety relieving effects. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of oxytocin on empathy in patients with schizophrenia. On a neurobiological level, social effects mediated by oxytocin are based on oxytocin's influence on the complexly regulated mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. Preliminary studies have already shown that oxytocin increases neuronal connections between social reward expectancy networks and networks for socioemotional processes in the brain, which on a behavioral level leads to increased social activation, motivation, and also improved social perception. Furthermore, an increase in empathy modulated by the amygdala has been shown in healthy individuals following oxytocin administration. In particular, primary psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, are associated with deficits in the domain of social cognition, including empathy, with the degree of negative symptoms playing an important mediating role. Another study demonstrated a significantly lower expression of empathy as well as a significantly lower oxytocin level in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy subjects. According to the hypothesis of social salience, which describes an increased importance of certain social stimuli, the effect of oxytocin varies depending on specific contexts and individual variables of the perceiving person, such as the degree of negative symptoms. Therefore, based on such preliminary findings, the research project will explore an effect of oxytocin on empathy within a positively experienced and controlled context, especially in patients with schizophrenia regarding their negative symptoms.
The goal is to provide combination of 2 hours of weekly game based telehealth therapeutic intervention along with CBT-P for children identified with first onset psychosis or to be clinically high risk for psychosis thus widening therapeutic services offered. Target outcome measures are improvement in clinical symptoms, treatment engagement, and reduced hospitalization rates.
This proposed randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness of a problem-solving based bibliotherapy program (PSBPF) for Chinese family caregivers in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. A repeated-measures, three-group design will be used to evaluate and compare the effects between two treatment groups (PSBPF and behavioral management group) and routine outpatient service (control group) for 150 randomly selected family caregivers of outpatients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders over a 18-month follow-up.