Active clinical trials for "Anhedonia"

Depression is a common mental health problem that often begins during adolescence. Onset during adolescence can be disruptive to schoolwork and social relationships and if left untreated can lead to recurrence during adulthood, as well as the development of other mental health problems. Current treatments for depression (for both adults and young people) largely focus on reducing low mood and do not effectively tackle the other hallmark symptom of depression, anhedonia, which is characterised as a loss of enjoyment/ pleasure for previously enjoyed activities. Anhedonia is associated with increased risk of suicidality, so should be an important treatment target. Whilst some adult treatments are beginning to address anhedonia, little research has focussed on young people. It cannot be assumed that adult treatments will work identically in young people, particularly s their brains are still maturing compared to adults. The aim of this study is to complete a randomised feasibility trial, to see if it is possible to run a brief talking therapy for anhedonia in adolescent depression, by targeting one promising cognitive factor known to contribute to low positive affect: positive future mental imagery

Anhedonia is characterized by loss of interest or pleasure. The proposed pilot study would be the first to test an innovative, neuroscience-informed intervention in mothers reporting depressive symptoms and stress to enhance positive emotionality with the goal of preventing anhedonia and associated emotional disturbances in their children. This study will recruit dyads (mothers and their children) for the intervention.

Participants with depression will be given a single dose of psilocybin and supportive psychotherapy before, during, and after drug administration. Participants will undergo positron emission tomography (PET) imaging before and one week after psilocybin using a marker of synaptic density. This design allows us to assess the relationship between neurotrophic, and antidepressant effects produced by psilocybin.

The purpose of this study is to establish the dose-response curve for therapeutic doses of d-amphetamine on tasks of motivation and reward learning in the same participants and to use d-amphetamine as a dopaminergic probe to test newer theories about the role of dopamine in reward-related decision-making.

This project is designed to examine the neuronal KCNQ2/3 potassium (K+) channel subtype as a novel treatment target for mood disorders through the administration of the KCNQ-selective channel opener ezogabine (Potiga, GlaxoSmithKline; FDA-approved for the treatment of seizure disorders).

The proposed research addresses a major mental health issue (anhedonia) with a novel computationally-inspired translational technique in both humans and mice. This approach greatly increases the likelihood that a positive animal model result will be successfully translated to humans. This research plan thus offers a novel way to address the NIMH's mission of defining mechanisms of complex behaviors.

There is growing animal and human evidence for role of 5HT1A receptor agonism in treating depression and reward deficits. The next step is to translate this evidence directly into humans by characterising the effects of buspirone, as a 5HT1A agonist, on cognitive models of reward and emotional processing. There is a paucity of behavioural evidence for the effect of 5HT1A receptor agonism, using buspirone as a probe, on primary reward processing (e.g. food), effort-based decision making or reward learning. Furthermore, the effects of 5HT1A agonism on non-emotive cognition, such as working memory, has yet to be investigated at a behavioural level in humans. This study will characterise the effects of buspirone, as a probe for 5HT1A receptor agonism, on reward processing in human cognitive models. Furthermore it will examine its role in emotional processing and working memory. This will add to the evidence base of the neurocognitive effects of 5HT1A receptor agonism in humans, which is of relevance to the development of this as a target for future treatment development. The study will be a double blinded, placebo controlled study involving healthy volunteers. Participants will receive a single dose of buspirone and then undergo a battery of psychometric testing to examine reward processing, emotional processing and a memory. Frequent monitoring of temperature and salivary cortisol shall be taken as surrogate markers of pre- and postsynaptic 5HT1A receptor activation.

Study of individualized accurate targeting rTMS intervention on motivational anhedonia of treatment resistant depression and brain network mechanism

Study of tDCS intervention on motivational anhedonia of Major Depressive Disorder

The aim of this study is to test a therapeutic intervention to reduce negative symptomatic among schizophrenia patients. Since the intervention can take place within an inpatient stay, it is a short intervention. Three appointments are made with the patients within two weeks. With an adaptation of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) participants will be asked to recall events from the past and to imagine future events. Patients are additionally asked to complete tasks between the sessions. One pre- and one post-measurement of negative symptoms, motives, level of functioning, hope for recovery and other co-variables are part of the study. A follow-up appointment four weeks later is intended to provide information on the longer-term impact.