Active clinical trials for "Bipolar Disorder"

The purpose of this study is to examine how the drug tamoxifen affects the brain in patients with bipolar I disorder. Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a severe, chronic, and often life-threatening illness for which safe and effective treatments are necessary. The mood stabilizing effects of lithium and valproate have revolutionized the treatment of patients with BD. However, a significant percentage of patients do not respond fully to these drugs, and the biochemical basis for the antimanic and mood-stabilizing actions of lithium and valproate is unclear. Both drugs inhibit protein kinase C (PKC). There is a need to investigate the efficacy of a direct PKC inhibitor in the treatment of acute mania. Tamoxifen is currently the only relatively selective PKC inhibitor available for human use. Participants in this study will be screened with a physical, psychiatric, and eye examination and blood and urine tests. Eligible participants will be hospitalized at the Clinical Center for at least 4 weeks. They will be tapered off all psychiatric medication and kept drug free for 2 to 7 days. They will also be put on a low-monoamine, low-caffeine diet. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either tamoxifen or placebo (an inactive pill) for 3 weeks. During this time, participants will have daily pulse and blood pressure measurements, several electrocardiograms (EKGs), and blood draws. Weight measurements will be taken at least twice during the study, and caffeine or dextromethorphan will be given at the beginning and end of the study to test how tamoxifen affects the way the body eliminates other medications. Participants will have a physical examination at the end of the study. At the end of this 4-week study, some participants may continue the study and will receive tamoxifen for an additional 3 weeks. At the conclusion of the study, participants' psychiatric status will be reassessed and long-term psychiatric treatment for their mood disorders will be arranged.

Bipolar Depression is a severe illness with high rates of psychiatric comorbidity and increased mortality related to suicide and medical illness. Hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) hyperactivity are found in bipolar disorder related to depression and mixed states. Patients with bipolar disorder also have cognitive difficulties and endocrine disturbances may contribute to such dysfunction. Antiglucorticoid therapies are novel treatments of mood disorder. Preliminary data in psychotic depression suggesting that mifepristone (RU-486), a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, has antidepressant and salutary cognitive effects in a matter of days. In this study we examine the effects of mifepristone in severe bipolar depression in a parallel, double blind placebo controlled experiment. Bipolar subjects maintained on either lithium or valproate, after washout or prior antidepressants have a detailed neuroendocrine assessment. Patients approximately or almost 75 will receive eight days of mifepristone versus placebo after which patients are blindly crossed over to the opposite arm. Patients and a group of matched controls approximately or almost 35 will be compared with neuroendocrine, cognitive, and neurophysiologic testing to fully characterize their phenotype and explore biomarkers of response. It is hypothesized that stigmata of HPA axis hyperactivity and cognitive impairment will be predictive of response to antiglucocorticoid therapy with mifepristone.

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of topiramate compared with placebo in the treatment of acute manic or mixed episodes in patients with Bipolar I Disorder.

This study will examine the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids, compounds found in plants and fish, in treating bipolar disorder. Some studies have indicated that omega-3 fatty acids may be effective in treating mood disorders. For example, one investigator has shown a correlation between the prevalence of major depression and the amount of fish consumed per capita worldwide. Others have found decreased amounts of EPA (one of the active ingredients in omega-3 fatty acids) in the red blood cells of patients with major depression. And a recent small study of patients with bipolar illness indicated that omega-3 fatty acids prevented relapses, especially of depression, in patients. Patients with bipolar disorder who are not benefiting satisfactorily on their current medications are eligible to participate in this study. Candidates will be screened with a psychiatric evaluation, routine blood tests, a urine test and other tests needed to monitor medications. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group will receive 6 grams of omega-3 fatty acid every day for 16 weeks; the second will receive a placebo (inactive capsule). In addition, patients in both groups will continue to take their previous medications. Every 2 weeks, all patients will have their vital signs checked and be evaluated for side effects and mood changes. At the end of the 16-week study period, all patients will be given the opportunity to continue in the study for another 8 months and receive active drug (omega-3 fatty acid). Patients who continue will be evaluated once a month and will have blood drawn on the last visit for routine tests.

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of sodium valproate (Depacon) in treating individuals with alcohol dependence and comorbid bipolar disorder.

The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and potential benefit of a behavioral intervention designed to improve emotion regulation in individuals with bipolar disorder. The intervention consists of game-like exercises that involve the 'Cognitive Control of Emotion (CCE) - i.e. the ability to control the influence of emotional information on behavior. Deficits in the cognitive control of emotion are a central feature of Bipolar Disorder that contributes to emotion dysregulation, maladaptive mood episodes, and, ultimately, the overall chronicity and severity of illness. Neuroimaging studies of bipolar patients demonstrate neural abnormalities in brain systems involved in cognitive control and emotion processing. Furthermore, these abnormalities predict mood and behavior problems associated with cognitive control of emotion, such as emotion lability, disinhibited behavior, and extreme mood states. The aim of this study is to determine feasibility and examine whether a computer-based program of progressively difficult cognitive control emotion exercises will improve cognitive control of emotion skills and, thereby, result in better emotion regulation and daily functioning in young adults with bipolar disorder. To test the intervention, a single group of young adults (18-30 years old) with Bipolar I Disorder will complete behavioral assessments before and after 20 hours (4 weeks) of CCE training. In order to identify baseline deficits associated with bipolar disorder, a comparison group of healthy young adults will complete behavioral assessments at a single time-point (without CCE training).

Genetic analyses conducted on patient with psychiatric disorders assessed at the expert centres resulted in the identific action of genetic variants associated with psychiatric disorders (Courtois, 2020). These data require further genetic and functional analyses. The first objective of this study is to investigate the disease-related inheritance of genetic variants in the families of individuals in whom these variants have been identified. The second objective is to explore the functional consequences of disease-associated genetic variants in patients cells and those of their relatives with and without these variants. The present project aims to enrich existing biocollections with DNA from blood or saliva from relatives of patients identified with genetic variants. In addition, we wish to collect hair follicules from patients with identified genetic variants of interest and their family members who wish to participate in the study. These hair samples with SNA will be used to dedifferentiate the isolated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs), and then to differentiate them into cells expressing the gene of interest, such as neurons or astrocytes, or into more complex systems, such as brain organoids.

In a previous study by Dr. Calkin, the principal investigator of this study, persons with bipolar disorder and either type II diabetes or insulin resistance were found to experience more severe symptoms of bipolar illness and a lower response to treatment, compared to persons with bipolar disorder who did not have type II diabetes or insulin resistance. To further explore these findings, the investigators have developed this study to see if treating insulin resistance (using metformin, a drug used to improve the body's use of insulin) may also help improve the symptoms of bipolar illness.

This study will investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for mood stabilization in perinatal women (preconception, pregnant, and postpartum) with a history of mood disorders. MBCT is a short-term group psychotherapy that has shown effectiveness in preventing depressive relapse. MBCT teaches mindfulness practices and cognitive-behavioral techniques.

To assess the acute and long-term bimodal efficacy of iloperidone (IL), as an adjunct to ongoing treatment with lithium (Li) or divalproex (DIV) or lamotrigine (LAM) or any combination of the three thereof, in a group of patients with an index episode of a mixed state in BD. To assess background, baseline features, and behavioral components which characterize treatment response/non-response in the acute and long term management of MS