View clinical trials related to Schizophrenia.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to determine whether cognitive training exercises can improve cognitive functioning in young patients with recent-onset psychosis who are being treated in community mental health settings using the NAVIGATE model. The investigators will examine the effects of web-based cognitive training exercises delivered on iPads. Participants will be randomized to one of three conditions, and will be assessed at Baseline, Post-Intervention, and 6 Month Follow Up on measures of clinical, neurocognitive, and functional status.
The purpose of this study is to better understand the neural correlates of cognitive control (CC) deficits in schizophrenia and determine how these mechanisms can be modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). CC is a critical neurocognitive process that is required for flexible, directed thought and action based on goals and intentions. Identifying and developing paradigms to improve CC is therefore a mental health priority. Current theories of CC postulate that recruitment of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is essential for this process by maintaining high-level information that it can then use to orchestrate patterns of activation in other brain networks to support optimal performance. tDCS is a safe, noninvasive method of modulating regional brain excitability via brief (15-20 m) application of a weak (1-2 mA) current. The goal of the proposed experiments is to combine tDCS with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the hypotheses that 1) acute tDCS over the DLPFC can improve performance during a CC task (the dot pattern expectancy (DPX) variant of the AX-Continuous Performance Task) in schizophrenia patients and healthy control subjects, and 2) acute tDCS over the DLPFC can increase recruitment of the DLPFC during the DPX. Effects of tDCS on brain functional connectivity (during CC as well as during the resting state) will also be examined, as well as effects on an episodic memory task. The current study will be the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of tDCS on the neuronal mechanisms of CC in schizophrenia, and has potentially important implications for therapeutic development for this treatment refractory yet disabling aspect of the illness.
Clozapine has consistently shown to be a superior drug for psychosis in patients who do not respond to other treatments, but its mechanism of action remains unknown. The overall goal of this study is to examine the functional neural circuitry that underlies successful treatment with clozapine, which may lead to the identification of biomarkers that will allow for more efficient use of clozapine, as well as additional treatment targets for patients with refractory illness.
Integrating Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) into Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) has great promise for improving the symptomatic, functional, and recovery outcomes for people with Serious Mental Illness (SMI), especially those individuals who have the greatest needs. In addition to these positive consumer outcomes, system benefits may also accrue due to more rapid graduation of consumers from ACT (with IMR) programs to less intensive levels of care. However, before these benefits can be realized, research and development are needed to design and pilot test a treatment manual that is feasible and acceptable to consumers and staff for integrating IMR and ACT.
The proposed study has been planned to evaluate the effect of add-on ramelteon on sleep pattern/quality and circadian rhythm disruption in patients with schizophrenia.
It is well established in the scientific literature that people with schizophrenia smoke tobacco cigarettes at rates up to three times that of the general population, relapse more frequently, and die an average of 25 years earlier from cigarette smoking and other life-style attributable illnesses. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are becoming increasingly popular with smokers worldwide and new research suggests that e-cigarettes are appealing to smokers with schizophrenia. There is a paucity of research focused on the experience of smokers with schizophrenia who decide to try an e-cigarette. A well-designed prospective-observational study is needed to learn more about the influence of e-cigarette use on cigarette smoking behavior and mental and physical health among smokers with schizophrenia. In response, the investigators have designed a study titled, Role of an electronic cigarette on smoking displacement in smokers with schizophrenia: A prospective 3-month pilot study (SchizEcig).
Schizophrenia is a disease of young adults that affects 1% of the general population. According to numerous studies, it has been estimated that between 50% and 80% of patients with schizophrenia do not consider to have a mental disorder and are therefore not aware of their disorders. A poor degree of insight is associated with poor compliance, a higher number of re-hospitalizations, altered social and relational functioning, and a higher number of suicides and violent behaviors. This is why insight, which is an essential dimension of psychopathology, must be evaluated, as it depends to a large extent on the therapeutic alliance, adherence to treatment, likelihood of relapse and prognosis.
Background: Cognitive deficits are a core symptom of schizophrenia even at the early stages of psychosis. To date, there has been reliable evidence that cognitive deficits are associated with outcomes in schizophrenia and early treatment could help to reduce the prominent disabling cognitive symptomatology which most schizophrenia patients still experience persistently. Outcomes in studies of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in schizophrenia patients suggest the possibility that application of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) with inhibitory stimulation over the left temporo-parietal cortex and excitatory stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could affect positive and negative symptoms, respectively. Positive effects of tDCS have also been reported on cognitive symptoms. The present study protocol hypothesis is that the development and utilization of potentially effective neuroenhancement tools such as a non-invasive brain stimulation technique like tDCS for the treatment and rehabilitation of cognitive impairment in early stages of Schizophrenia may contribute to the elucidation of the nature of the complex and dynamic processes in the brain during the early stages of the disease, and may lead to a better outcome. Objectives: The aim of the present study protocol is to evaluate the efficacy of tDCS in the treatment of cognitive symptomatology in the early stages of psychosis. Methods: Sixty patients in the early stages of psychosis will be randomly allocated to receive 20 minutes of active 2-mA tDCS or sham stimulation once a day on 10 consecutive weekdays. The anode will be placed over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the cathode over the left temporo-parietal cortex. Neuropsychological and psychiatric assessments will be performed at the time of consent (baseline), at 1 and 3 months following the end of the intervention (maintenance effect).
This is a research study designed to examine how the psychiatric illness called schizophrenia affects brain function and thinking abilities such as attention and memory during simple computer-based tasks, and how measures of brain function are related to performance. The investigators do this by looking at brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The investigators compare participants' results to the activity in their brain as well as clinical measures and questionnaires also completed during this study.
The purpose of this study is to examine the nature of reward processing dysfunctions in schizophrenia using neuroimaging techniques that capture in vivo brain functioning, such as EEG and fMRI.