Early Study of N-Acetylcysteine to Treat Deliberate Self-Harm in Adolescents
Deliberate Self Harm
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Deliberate Self Harm focused on measuring self harm, self injury, self mutilation, N-Acetylcysteine, adolescents, impulse control disorder, borderline personality disorder, fMRI
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
All participants:
- Participants must be aged 13 years to 21 years with the ability to provide consent or guardian consent and assent.
- They must be available to come to the University of Minnesota for study visits.
All DSH participants:
1) Must have engaged in DSH at least 4 times, with most recent episode in past three months.
Controls
- Have no history of deliberate self-harm
- Have no current or past psychiatric diagnoses
Exclusion Criteria:
- Those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or who have a positive urine drug screen will not be included.
- Individuals with unstable medical illnesses, a history of seizures or heart attack, or arrhythmia not be included.
- Participants will not have a history of Bipolar type I or II, dementia, schizophrenia or any other psychotic disorder.
- Patients with active suicidal intent will not be included.
- If DSH participants are currently taking medications, the doses of these must be stable 1 month prior to study onset.
For Receiving NAC:
- Participants may not be taking the following medications concurrently, due to the possibility of medication interactions: activated charcoal, ampicillin, carbamazepine, cephaloridine, cloxacillin, methicillin, nitroglycerin, oxacillin, penicillin G, quinacillin.
- Participants cannot have a history of allergic reaction to NAC.
For MRI Scanning:
- Participants may not have any metal in their body that would be unsafe in an MRI scanner.
- Participants with claustrophobia will not be included.
Sites / Locations
- University of Minnesota Dept. of Psychiatry Ambulatory Research Center
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Experimental
Treatment Group
Control
The study consists of eight weeks of open label N-Acetylcysteine. All eligible study subjects will be treated with 600mg of N-Acetylcysteine twice a day for 2 weeks, then the dose will be increased to 1200mg twice a day for two weeks, and to 1800mg twice a day for 4 weeks. weeks. Subjects will be seen every two weeks during the 8-week study. Efficacy and safety assessments will be performed at each visit.
40 healthy age-matched peers with undergo the same baseline testing as the NAC subjects as well as baseline fMRI. They will not engage in any follow up visits.