Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

The purpose of this project is to test whether a new model of collaborative care depression treatment adapted to the needs and preferences of low-income, urban mothers with perinatal depression and to a pediatric clinic setting increases engagement in and adherence to perinatal depression treatment.

The Work and Health Initiative (WHI) trial is testing an innovative, community-based program that provides mental health and vocational services to workers 50 years or older to improve functioning and reduce productivity loss. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that relative to usual care, the WHI improves the work outcomes of depression and reduces depression-related productivity loss.

RATIONALE: Gathering information about depression in patients with cancer may help doctors learn more about the disease and plan the best treatment. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying depression screening in patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.

RATIONALE: A computer-based system for assessing symptoms may be effective for patients with metastatic or advanced cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well computerized questionnaires work in assessing symptoms, pain, depression, and physical function in patients with metastatic and/or advanced local/regional cancer.

This study will compare levels of p11 protein in people with and without major depressive disorder (MDD) and examine if p11 levels in patients are affected by treatment with citalopram (Celexa). Healthy normal volunteers and patients with chronic or recurrent major depression between 18 and 65 years of age may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following tests and procedures: Healthy Volunteers Psychiatric interview and medical examination, questions about family history Blood draw Patients with MDD Phase 1 - Evaluation and Discontinuation of Medications Physical examination, electrocardiogram, blood tests Gradual antidepressant medication withdrawal, followed by 2- to 6-week drug-free period. If needed, medicines for anxiety and difficulty sleeping may be prescribed. Phase 2 Citalopram Treatment Start daily citalopram treatment Evaluations at the start of phase 2 and every week for 8 weeks with following procedures: Symptoms ratings interview and questionnaires Review of side effects and new medications Blood pressure and pulse measurements Blood and urine tests At the end of the study, plans are developed for long-term treatment and transfer of care to the patient s own physician. ...

The purpose of this study is to test a new monitoring technology that uses the sound of a depressed person's speech to assess the severity of depression symptoms. The Vocal Social Signals Platform (VSSP) is software that analyzes the non-verbal characteristics of a person's speech. This study will test this software to see if it could be a useful measurement tool for assessing depression symptoms. Participation in this study requires coming to the research headquarters twice over a three-month period. The first visit is to determine eligibility. Throughout the study, participants will be connected to a telephone system five times, on which they will answer questions about their depression symptoms. After answering questions, their voice will be recorded using a structured speech sample that the participant will read out loud. The participant will also give an unstructured speech sample, which will involve describing a typical day or the last movie s/he saw. The voice samples will be analyzed and compared to the results of the depression symptom questionnaires.

The purpose of the study is to compare the sedation profile one hour after dose administration between Seroquel IR and Seroquel XR.

Objective: To study the relative balance of GABA (A) binding potential and glutamate utilization in subjects with localization-related epilepsy with and without depression, subjects with major depressive disorder alone, and in subjects with generalized epilepsy (expected not to have significant comorbid depression). Pilot data shows that GABA(A) binding potential and glutamate utilization are tightly coupled in healthy subjects particularly in the mesial temporal lobe. We hypothesize that subjects with epilepsy will not exhibit the same degree of coupling, and that subjects with both epilepsy and depression will exhibit an even more pronounced decoupling. Study Population: Subjects aged 18-55 with localization-related epilepsy with and without depression, subjects with generalized epilepsy, subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) alone, and healthy controls. Design: This is a neuroimaging study, using positron emission tomography (PET) with [11C]flumazenil, to measure GABA(A) binding potential, and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose, to measure glucose utilization (reflective of neuronal glutamate release) Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), will be used to measure GABA and glutamate in the mesial temporal cortex, and corroborate the PET results. Structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) will be obtained for MRS localization and partial volume correction of PET images. Outcome measures: The binding potential of GABA(A), the regional rate of glucose metabolism, and the levels of GABA and glutamate as measured by MRS. Patients will be stratified by seizure type and depression ratings. ...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for patients suffering from depression, who do not respond to medical treatment. However it is often dismissed by patients, who feel uncomfortably about the application of electric shocks to their heads. In 2000, magnetic seizure therapy (MST) has been introduced which uses magnetism instead of electricity to evoke convulsions. MST seems to be as effective as ECT in terms of its antidepressant potency but may be associated with less severe cognitive side effects. Control of anaesthesia during seizure therapy is demanding since light anesthesia might be associated with awareness, whereas deep anesthesia impedes the antidepressant effect of the convulsion. Therefore, Bispectral index (BIS) monitoring is frequently used to tailor anaesthesia for ECT, however little is known about BIS following MST. The investigators hypothesize that in comparing MST with ECT, (a) patients show a faster increase in BIS and that (b)less left-right differences occur in BIS.

The increase in life expectancy in the 21st century has resulted in a major growth in the prevalence of age-related diseases and conditions. Depression has been found to be the most prevalent among the various mental disorders in later life. It was emphasized that depression in the elderly is a persistent or recurrent disorder resulting from psychosocial stress or physiologic effects of disease and can lead to disability, cognitive impairments, intensified symptoms of other medical conditions and increased utilization of health care services. Due to the rapidly aging population, depression is a serious public health concern that has a great impact on quality of life and may lay a considerable burden on the health care systems. However depression among the elderly may prove to be hard to diagnose since in aged persons depressive symptoms are often masked by somatic complaints or by cognitive impairments. Consequently depression is often under diagnosed and the patients continue to visit constantly the nurse or the physician without getting an adequate answer to their problem. For that reason over utilization of health care services may be an indicator to the presence of undiagnosed depression. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between socio-demographic variables, high primary care utilization and depressive symptomatology among aged patients.