Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

Although the last decade has brought major advances with respect to our knowledge of certain risks associated with fetal exposure to psychiatric medications, critical information regarding the long-term neurobehavioral impact of fetal exposure is lacking. With a prevalence rate of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use across pregnancy in Western countries noted to be as high as 5-8%, this study aims to close the gap in knowledge regarding long-term neurobehavioral sequelae of in utero exposure to this class of antidepressants. Importantly, the assessment of the impact of antenatal psychotropic medication use must be conducted with an appreciation of the potential direct and indirect effects of maternal psychiatric illness during pregnancy and throughout childhood. The outcomes of this study will help to inform the care of reproductive age women treated with psychiatric medications as they, along with the clinicians prescribing for them, weigh the relative risks of using these agents during pregnancy.

Anhedonia (the lack of pleasure in normally pleasurable things) is a common symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD), and it may impact how patients with depression experience reward. Understanding how anhedonia is related to the experience of reward may help improve how depression is treated. Computer tasks can be used to measure how reward is experienced, and these measures might be able to predict things like who is likely to become depressed, or who will respond to antidepressant medication. Studying the relationship between anhedonia and reward in patients with depression might also tell us something about how to improve diagnosis and treatment of other psychiatric disorders.This is an open label controlled treatment study lasting 8 weeks. The brain scans will be used to find changes in brain areas that may be related to how people perform on the tasks. The investigators goal is to use this information to help us find a reliable predictor that can be used to guide MDD treatment.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the feasibility and potential impact of an automated phone system in monitoring and improving self-care and health outcomes among patients with depression in Bolivia.

This is a feasibility trial designed to test the feasibility and acceptability of a one-day Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) workshop intervention ("DISCOVER") for young people aged between 15-18 years, who are on local child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) waiting lists, awaiting treatment for difficulties with anxiety and/or depression. Participants will be randomised to receive either the DISCOVER workshop (in addition usual care) or to continue usual care.

This is a study to characterise the role of inflammatory processes in depression. There is compelling evidence that inflammation is often associated with, and can cause, depression. It is currently less clear that antiinflammatory drugs have meaningful antidepressant effect. One of the goals is to identify the subset of depressed patients that is most likely to respond better to an antiinflammatory drug than to a conventional antidepressant. The investigators will therefore undertake a study of patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder including four groups: i) incompletely responsive patients who have demonstrated failure to respond consistently or completely to standard treatment, ii) those who have responded well to treatment and are not currently depressed, iii) untreated patients who are currently depressed, iv) healthy volunteers with no history of depression. Participants will undergo a clinical assessment, an interview with a trained member of the research team and will complete self-rated questionnaires. Investigators will collect blood and saliva samples to measure certain immune markers. They will also perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to look for MRI markers in the brain and investigate brain inflammation in a subsample of these patients using positron emission topography (PET) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling (also called lumbar puncture).

Postpartum depression (PD) is a serious and disabling mental health condition that affects 10-15% of women after childbirth. Low-income minority women are disproportionately affected. Untreated PD can lead to significant negative outcomes for both mother and child. Pediatricians are being asked to routinely screen for PD and while screening rates are improving, little is known about whether mothers actually adhere to pediatrician recommendations to seek additional help after a positive PD screen. The objective of this study is to describe the rate at which mothers seek treatment for suspected PD after a positive screen at the pediatrician office. Additional examination will look at factors that predict whether a mother recalls a recommendation to seek treatment.

The sense of smell and cognition are known to be closely associated with mood and emotional processes. However, despite the clear links between olfaction and cognitive processes with emotional states, research into the role of olfaction, cognition, and mood disorders has so far yielded variable results. This study proposes to investigate the ability to detect and identify odours and assess cognition in a group of patients with unipolar and bipolar depression prior to and after receiving their scheduled electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) treatments. Olfaction will be evaluated utilizing standard olfactory testing protocols using commercially available kits. Cognition will be evaluated utilizing standard cognitive test protocols in a functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol. The results will potentially shed light on the link between olfaction, cognition and mood disorders.

This pilot study evaluated whether participating in an African drumming activity for 45 minutes immediately improved mental well-being among 13 adults diagnosed with acute mood disorders who were attending a private mental health clinic. The drumming intervention was completed by occupational therapists.

Major depression is a frequent psychiatric disorder with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 16-17% in the general population. Although its pathophysiology is not completely understood, a large body of literature pleads for a causative role of disturbances in reward processes, referring to: i) the hedonic sensation (i.e. "liking") defined by the pleasure felt after exposure to appetitive stimuli, and ii) the motivation (i.e. "wanting") represented by the ability to initiate and maintain behavioral responses oriented toward appetitive stimuli. the investigators have therefore developed and tested a new experimental computer-based and easy-to-use test intended to provide an objective and quantitative measurement of both hedonic and motivational states in humans. According to the task, the subjects are asked to view and to compare two stimuli, an appetitive one (food pictures) and its devalued counterpart (food pictures in greyscale), at each trial, assessing either the size (task A) or the duration of presentation (task B). From these considerations, the present project aims at using our novel tool to: i) assess the hedonic and motivational state in subjects with major depression, ii) compare their responses with healthy volunteers. The present project should demonstrate that the behavioral tests validated in our laboratory are relevant experimental tools for the diagnostic/clinical assessment and for the phenotypic characterization of depressed patients. The application of the test in the therapeutic context could add further information about the efficacy and relevance of the chosen therapy.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether a web-based nursing intervention delivered during the postpartum period will decrease symptoms of postpartum depression and parenting stress.