Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder, Major"

This project aims to evaluate a male-specific psychotherapeutic program (MSPP) for MDD based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The primary goal is to test the superiority of the MSPP. This will be conducted in two groups of depressed men, namely eudonadal depressed men and hypogonadal depressed men receiving testosterone treatment (TT). In a randomized study design, the MSPP will be compared to a standard CBT and a waitlist control group, resulting in a total of six study groups. Both standardized psychotherapy programs will encompass 18 sessions delivered in a weekly manner, starting at study week 6 and continuing until study week 24. Aligned with the TT-related medical visits of the hypogonadal men, all participants will be followed up with clinical assessments and biosampling at weeks 0, 6, 15, 24, 36. In addition, a separate healthy control group will be examined, which will undergo only baseline assessments.

The Near-infrared transcranial laser therapy (NIR-TLT) is a non-ionizing electromagnetic wave. The NIR-TLT is invisible, penetrates the skin and skull into brain tissue and is non-invasive. The benefits of NIR-TLT are wavelength specific. A mitochondrial enzyme, the Cytochrome c oxidase, is the primary chromophore for the NIR-TLT with a wavelength of around 830 nm. When this enzyme is activated, it leads to increased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and this event is related to the promotion of cellular plasticity and cytoprotection. These are critical cellular processes for recovery of the depressive patients. Therefore, this study will contribute to answer the question of whether NIR-TLT has an antidepressant effect and whether it is acceptable in minority population.

To evaluate the acute and sustained antidepressant effects of nitrous oxide in people with major depressive disorder; and further evaluate these effects by identifying the optimal dose and regimen to guide current practice, and to plan a future large pragmatic trial.

The purpose of the study is to learn more about computer-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy or "CCBT" and to examine connections in the brains of patients with depression. CCBT is approved by the FDA as a form of treatment for depression. It is done partly on the computer and partly with a therapist. This study will enroll participants with depression and participants without depression. The investigators will recruit a total of 100 participants: 80 with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 50 matched comparison participants. Healthy control subjects will participate for approximately 8 weeks. All MDD participants will receive CCBT. Half of the MDD participants will all receive computer-augmented skills training with the Good Days Ahead (GDA) protocol immediately (Early CCBT). Early CCBT subjects will participate for approximately 8 weeks. The other half of the MDD participants initially will be randomized to a waitlist of up to 4 weeks and subsequently will receive CCBT treatment (Late CCBT). Late CCBT subjects will participate for approximately 12 weeks. All participants are asked to complete a screening, which includes a series of clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires about the individual's thoughts, moods, and behaviors. All participants are asked to wear an actigraph, which is a watch-like device that measures activity levels. Additionally, participants are asked to completed short questions and have their activity levels monitored through phone app(s). All participants (Healthy Control and MDD participants) will receive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning at baseline. Early CCBT participants will receive fMRI scanning after 8 weeks of CCBT, and Late CCBT participants will receive fMRI scanning at the conclusion of the waitlist and after the 8-week course of CCBT. Brain activity will be compared between MDD and controls at baseline and between Early CCBT vs Late CCBT. The 2nd and 3rd brain scans of Late CCBT participants at the end of the waitlist and 8-week course of CCBT, respectively, will allow within-subject comparison of CCBT vs Waitlist treatment effects. This clinical trial has two IRB protocol numbers: 826910 and 832295. The data collected through both protocol numbers will be analyzed together to accomplish the target of 100 subjects for this clinical trial.

The investigators are doing this research study to find out if using aspirin along with antidepressant treatment can lessen symptoms of depression. This study also aims to find out if some people improve more from taking aspirin than others. The investigators also want to see if it is possible to predict which participants will do better based on a blood test. Aspirin is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an over-the-counter pain medication. But, aspirin is not approved by the FDA to make antidepressant treatment better. This research study will compare aspirin to placebo.

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh is conducting a research study to learn about the changes that occur in the brain when individuals suffer from and then are treated for depression. The NEMO study has two main purposes. The first is to provide medication treatment to individuals ages 60 and older who are currently depressed. The second part of the study involves completing a series of 4 MRIs, which assess changes in brain function over the course of treatment. This research may help investigators to develop faster and more effective treatment plans in the future, as brain responses that are detected early in treatment may predict how well an individual will respond to antidepressant medication.

Depression currently affects close to 2 million Canadians and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Pharmacological treatments (antidepressant medication) and psychological treatments such as cognitive-behavioural therapy are available for depression, but the majority of those who receive treatment have an unsatisfactory response. On average, the combination of pharmacological and psychological treatment achieves better results than either treatment alone. However, the apparently superior results of combination treatment may be due to the fact that different individuals preferentially respond to pharmacological or psychological treatment. The invesitagtors have discovered several clinical factors and biomarkers that predict poor response to commonly used antidepressant medication: history of childhood maltreatment, loss of interest and reduced activity, a biomarker of systemic inflammation, and a genetic marker of sensitivity to environment. Indirect evidence suggests that the same factors may indicate the need for psychological treatment, but their usefulness as differential predictors of psychological and pharmacological treatment outcomes remains to be established. The investigators will test the hypothesis that a pre-determined set of clinical variables (history of childhood maltreatment, loss of interest and reduced activity) and biomarkers (serum C-reactive protein, a marker of systemic inflammation, and short alleles of the serotonin transporter gene promoter polymorphism) differentially predicts response to antidepressants and to cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy with clinically significant accuracy. If this hypothesis is supported, the resulting predictor will allow personalized selection of treatment for depression, leading to improved outcomes and healthcare efficiency. Additional objectives include replication of additional predictors and integrative analyses aimed at refining the treatment choice algorithms.

The purpose of this study is to establish how personalization of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can change markers of brain activity and improve treatment response. To do this, all participants will receive the same active form of treatments, but some of the participants in this study will receive intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) rTMS treatment with standard forms of targeting and intensity, and others will receive iTBS rTMS treatment using personalized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electric field (E-field) modeling measures.

This study was a single-arm, open-label clinical study to assess dopamine transporter occupancy in the brain of patients with depression using 11C-CFT positron emission tomography (PET).

In the current study, the investigators aim to understand the role of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in improving executive function across neuropsychiatric populations known to have deficits in this cognitive domain.