View clinical trials related to Schizophrenia.
Filter by:Schizophrenia affects 2.4 million Americans and causes significant individual and societal costs. Cognitive deficits including poor working memory arise early in the course of illness, account for poor long-term outcomes and have been difficult to treat with available treatments. The investigators are proposing to develop a novel, computer-based brain training to improve working memory in schizophrenia patients, which, if successful could have significant personal, societal, and economic impact.
In early clinical study investigators confirmed that berberine could prevent glucose and lipid metabolism disorder in schizophrenia, so investigators intend to verify the effect and safety of berberine in treatment for metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia.
An acute psychotic episode is a severe psychiatric syndrome which might occur in different psychiatric diagnoses. The outcome prediction of relapse rate of a psychotic episode within a certain time frame is difficult and depends on many factors. More and better predictors are required to improve the outcome prediction in order to adjust therapy and follow-up if patients suffer from this acute disease. Copeptin, a surrogate marker for vasopressin, has been proven helpful in the prediction of the outcome in serious somatic diseases. Additionally, a rise of copeptin due to psychological stress was shown. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of the neuroendocrine biomarker copeptin and the prediction of the onset of psychotic episode within one year.
The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effect of emotional prosody on the perception of emotional discourse in the schizophrenic spectrum. The investigators hypothesize that participant may use emotional prosody as an emotional cue to understand the emotional content of discourse.
Investigating the effects of non-invasive transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) as a treatment for auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia.
Rationale: There is growing consensus that targeting negative symptoms such as social withdrawal is essential to be able to preserve social participation, thereby reducing the high yearly costs of schizophrenia. Aaron T. Beck, founder of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and colleagues have developed and investigated a new CBT approach, in which they target inactivity in a chronic schizophrenia population with severe negative symptoms The therapy is based on accumulating evidence that dysfunctional beliefs in conjunction with neurocognitive impairments can impede social functioning. These results suggest that CBT can be highly successful in establishing clinically meaningful improvements. However, the therapy has not yet been investigated in a recent-onset population. Objective: To evaluate the applicability and (cost-) effectiveness of a shortened, partly group based, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focussing on social activation (CBTsa) in patients with recent onset schizophrenia. Hypotheses: 1) the investigators hypothesized that CBT focused on social activation (CBTsa) in a recent-onset population will result in a substantial reduction in severity of negative symptoms, in particular social withdrawal. 2) The investigators expected that CBTsa would lead to an improvement in terms of Quality of Life and overall functioning. 3) The investigators expected this intervention to result in a reduction in need for care and QALY gain as a consequence of improvement in symptoms and social functioning. Study design: Single blind randomized controlled trial with 6 month-follow up. Study population: Patients between 18 and 35 years old with negative symptoms of at least moderate severity, and who have been recently (< 2yrs) diagnosed with schizophrenia. Intervention (if applicable): Individual and group-based CBT intervention targeting social withdrawal. Main study parameters/endpoints: Change in negative symptoms, Social functioning, and quality of life, Productivity losses.
An exacerbated response to stress mediated by activation of the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenocortical (HPA) axis is thought to play an important role in the onset, worsening and relapse of schizophrenia. Subjects at risk for schizophrenia (unaffected siblings of patients) displayed an intermediate hyperreactivity to stress as compared with patients and healthy controls. Symptoms of schizophrenia can be reduced with noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Importantly, this same DLPFC NIBS protocol can modulate decision making processes and modulate biological reactivity to stress by decreasing salivary cortisol concentration in acute stress condition.
Development of interventions that can effectively target and remediate the cognitive and functional impairment associated with serious mental illness is a treatment priority. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, non-invasive neuromodulation technique that is capable of stimulating brain activity to facilitate learning. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the pairing of two therapeutic techniques, cognitive remediation and tDCS, as a cognitively enhancing intervention. This study is designed to test the hypotheses that cognitive remediation paired with tDCS will be more efficacious than cognitive remediation delivered with sham stimulation and that intervention-induced cognitive change will be sustainable. To examine the incremental benefit of pairing tDCS with cognitive remediation, clinically stable outpatients between the ages of 18-65 who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder will be enrolled in a double-blind, double-baseline, sham-controlled clinical trial. Participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either tDCS or sham stimulation concurrent with working memory focused cognitive remediation. Training will be offered to participants in a small group format. Training will consist of 48 sessions, with 2-3 sessions scheduled in a week. Each training session will last 2 hours. One hour will be spent completing cognitive exercises that require working memory skills on a computer. TDCS or sham stimulation will be offered concurrent with the first 20 minutes of training with a StarStim neuromodulator. One mA of anodal stimulation will be applied to the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and the cathodal electrode will be placed in the contralateral supraorbital position. Upon completion of working memory training, participants will transition to a 45-minute bridging group focus on application of cognitive skills in everyday life. To assess intervention-induced change, working memory, other aspects of cognition, functional capacity, community functioning, and symptom severity will be assessed pre- and post-intervention. Sustainability of intervention-induced change will be assessed with an assessment session 6 weeks post-intervention. Mixed effect, repeated measure ANOVAS will be used to analyze intervention-induced change.
This study will evaluate the long-term safety, tolerability, and durability of treatment effect of ALKS 3831 in subjects with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, or bipolar I disorder
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are associated with high risk for suicide, yet there are few brief interventions that directly target suicide prevention in this large population. The goal of this intervention development study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a brief intervention called SafeTy and Recovery Therapy (START) that is augmented with content delivered on mobile devices outside of the clinic setting. The intervention will evaluated in a community urgent care center context as people initiate outpatient care, and, if effective, could be deployed in a wide network of such centers.