Active clinical trials for "Depression"

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.

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.

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.

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.

Depressive symptoms and disorders are among the most common adult health conditions with a lifetime prevalence of 15-20% and are a leading cause of disability /morbidity worldwide. Although evidence-based approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), antidepressant medications, and depression collaborative care and quality improvement (QI) programs integrating depression care into primary health care can improve depression outcomes and disparities, racial / ethnic disparities continue to persist. Concurrently, according to a 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, little information exists on how to address the high rates of depression among sexual and gender minorities. Our study randomizes depressed, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer), racial / ethnic minority adults to an evidence-based agency-level, depression quality improvement (QI) training [Resources for Services (RS)] and technical support alone or to a resiliency class (RC+), a 7-session resiliency, cognitive behavioral therapy class to enhance mood + automated mobile text reminders about basic reminders and care follow-up impact on improving adult patients' depressive symptoms. Depression QI (RS) training will be offered to three clusters of four to five LGBTQ-focused programs: two clusters in LA (Hollywood and South LA) and one cluster in NO. Clusters are comprised of one primary care, one mental health, and two to three community agencies (e.g., faith-based, social services/support, advocacy). All programs will receive depression QI training. Enrolled adult depressed patients (n=320) will be randomized individually to RC+ or RS (depression QI) alone to assess effects on primary outcomes: depressive symptoms [8-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-8) score and secondary outcomes: mental health quality of life [12-item mental composite score (MCS-12) ≤ 40], Resilience (Brief Resilience Scale), mental wellness, and physical health quality of life [12-item physical composite (PCS-12)score] at 6- and 12-month follow-up.

Suicide, suicide attempts and depression are major social problems. The present research program focuses on the relationship between electrodermal hyporeactivity, as measured by the ElectroDermal Orienting Reactivity (EDOR) Test, and suicide and suicide attempts with death intent in patients with a primary diagnosis of depression. Electrodermal hyporeactivity has in several publications from different laboratories repeatedly been shown to have a high sensitivity (up to 97%) and high raw specificity (up to 98%) for suicide. Such levels are unique in psychiatry. The relationship between suicidal propensity and hyporeactivity can be considered as strongly significant. Almost all evidence in the topic up today has been established in research settings with specific exclusion criteria for some secondary psychiatric and some somatic illnesses. However, it is important to study the relationship between electrodermal hyporeactivity and suicide in relatively unselected patients regarding secondary psychiatric diagnoses and somatic diagnoses in a natural clinical ward situation and milieu. A previous naturalistic study proved that a test of electrodermal hyporeactivity fits very well into the daily clinical work.

The purpose of this study is to 1) determine whether Mindfulness Training for Primary Care (see study "MINDFUL-PC: Integrating Mindfulness Into the Patient-Centered Medical Home - A Pilot Study") engages self-regulation targets such as emotion regulation, attention, and interoceptive awareness; and 2) changes brain activation in neuroimaging tasks before compared to after the training. Neuroimaging fMRI tasks probe mechanisms related to self-regulation, such as attention/inhibition, emotion regulation, self-compassion, interoception and pain regulation. The study will also look at whether chronic disease self-management and successful engagement of self-report and behavioral self-regulation targets (emotion regulation, attention, and interoceptive awareness) relates to the observed brain activation changes after compared to before the mindfulness intervention.

This is a stepped wedged randomized controlled trial comparing the PARTNER intervention with usual care in 5 Intensive Care Units. The overarching goal of this research project to ensure patient-centered decisions about the use of intensive treatments for patients with advanced critical illness. In a prior project, the investigators developed the PARTNER program (PAiring Re-engineered ICU Teams with Nurse-driven Education and OutReach), a 4-facet, team-based intervention that re-engineers how surrogates are supported in ICUs, including: 1) changing care "defaults" to ensure clinician-family meetings within 48 hours of enrollment and frequently thereafter; 2) protocolized, nurse-administered coaching and emotional support of surrogates before and during clinician-family meetings, 3) increased use of palliative care services for patients with a poor prognosis. The investigators propose to begin deployment of the PARTNER II program in the spring of 2015 enrolling 690 surrogate decision makers in 5 ICUs using a stepped wedge design. The investigators expect to achieve the following project goals: To increase the patient-centeredness of end-of-life decisions, and to increase the quality of clinician-family communication. To decrease the psychological burden on family members acting as surrogates. To reduce total health care costs by decreasing the duration of use of burdensome, invasive treatments at the end of life.

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.

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.