Active clinical trials for "Depression"

The study aims at investigating if tDCS applied to left DLPFC or to right OFC to treatment as usual is effective in reducing severe suicidal ideas in major depressive episode.

This is a three-armed clinical trial examining the effect of 5-hydroxytryptophan and creatine monohydrate as augmenting agents for the treatment of depression. Subjects will be randomized between 5-HTP 100mg BID + creatine 5g daily, 5-HTP 200mg BID + creatine 10g daily, vs double placebo, for 8 weeks. The ability of the interventions to affect biomarkers associated with depression will be assessed using brain phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy, functional connectivity imaging, and plasma serotonin levels.

This project will be a pilot study to test the feasibility of using Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) among competitive athletes experiencing mild-to-moderate depression or anxiety. To test whether the intervention works, the researchers will assess athletes' emotion dysregulation, symptoms of mood disorders (anxiety and depression), sport-related distress, subjective performance satisfaction, and well-being. In addition to assessing athlete outcomes, key aspects to be examined in the pilot study include the recruitment and randomization procedures, informed consent procedures, data collection tools, implementation of the intervention, and retention of participants. Feasibility will be assessed by recruitment (willingness to be randomized, number of eligible participants in the recruitment process). Retention will be assessed by the number of athletes who continue or discontinue attendance. Participants' experiences in the intervention will be assessed via qualitative interviews to gain in-depth information about their perceptions of the intervention.

Bipolar disorders affect approximately 4.5 million people across the European Union (EU) and are associated with high annual healthcare and societal costs. Bipolar disorder I and II represent disorders that cause extreme fluctuation in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function, in which symptoms of (hypo)mania and depression alternate. The depressive episodes of bipolar disorders are often referred to as bipolar depression (BD). In other words: it is a phase/state of the disorder. For many patients with BD, the depressive polarity is often more pervasive and more debilitating than manic states, with estimates that depressed mood accounts for up to two-thirds of the time spent unwell, even with treatment. The burden of not received an effective treatment for BD is high: more severe psychopathology, higher rates of unemployment, more hospitalisations, lower quality of life, lower cognitive functioning, risk of suicide, comorbidities and poorer social and occupational functioning and thus more carer burden. For BD, the treatment guidelines are very heterogeneous, amongst other reasons because the disease is heterogeneous and treatments should be tailored to the patients. There is no clear treatment algorithm and it cannot yet be predicted which treatment will be effective. Especially the place of adjunctive antidepressants is under debate. Usually, for psychiatric disorders (including bipolar disorder), a patient is considered to be treatment-resistant is two medicinal treatments have been tried (in sufficient duration and dosage) without sufficient success. For BD, there is no consensus on when to consider a patient as treatment-resistant, but the most common definition is after one prior treatment failure. This raises the research question whether adjunctive antidepressants to treat BD should be introduced earlier in the treatment. Additionally, The INTENSIFY trial is part of the larger Horizon 2021 project, with the central goal of paving the way for a shift towards a treatment decision-making process tailored for the individual at risk for treatment resistance. To that end, we aim to establish evidence-based criteria to make decisions of early intense treatment in individuals at risk for treatment resistance across the major psychiatric disorders of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

This study intends to use a randomized controlled clinical study to clarify the clinical efficacy of cheek acupuncture therapy in patients with moderate depressive disorder. And also to find the antidepressant mechanism of cheek acupuncture therapy on moderate depressive disorder by using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The specific method is to randomly assign 126 patients with moderate depressive disorder to cheek acupuncture group, sham cheek acupuncture group and drug group, evaluate the treatment effect with HAMD-17, PSQI and HAMA, observe the improvement of cheek acupuncture on depression, anxiety and sleep quality of patients with moderate depressive disorder, and observe the changes of functional links in various brain regions of patients in each group before and after treatment through resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging technology.

Given the growing evidence that aerobic increases cortical excitability and promotes neuroplasticity, the scientific premise for its potential priming effect on the brain is strong. Combining AE with rTMS may produce a neural environment optimized for a robust physiological effect of rTMS, thereby leading to improved depression outcomes. With positive findings, this study would provide preliminary support for an innovative, safe and feasible approach for improving outcomes for this significant public health problem.

The scientific literature shows that women subjected to gender violence suffer a deterioration in mental health (anxiety, stress and depression). In particular, a recent study carried out in Galicia found a high incidence of post-traumatic stress, depression and low self-esteem in women victims of gender violence. The efficacy of therapeutic exercise in depression and anxiety has been widely demonstrated, as has the link between gender violence and deterioration of mental health, with a high incidence of post-traumatic stress. However, research on the effect of therapeutic exercise in battered women is very limited. For this reason, the aim of the present project is to evaluate the effect of a therapeutic exercise program on mental health in women who have suffered gender violence.

Depressive symptom is a common symptom that can be present in various psychiatric conditions, including depression and bipolar disorder. If left untreated, moderate to severe depressive symptoms can lead to serious health complications and are closely linked with suicide. Music therapy (MT)interventions have emerged as an important non-pharmacological approach to treating psychiatric and behavioral disorders, and have been observed to effectively alleviate depressive symptoms. Through its impact on the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and limbic system, music helps to regulate an individual's psychological state and can alleviate depressive symptoms. This study utilized a randomized clinical trial design involving two groups: the MT group and the control group, both of which exhibited depressive symptoms. The MT group received MT in addition to routine clinical treatment, while the control group received only routine clinical treatment. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that MT is an effective intervention for alleviating depressive symptoms and to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of MT.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a promising, novel, non-invasive therapy for depression. In fact, there is an FDA-approved depression protocol to stimulate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Its efficacy and safety have improved significantly with continued research and clinical experience. However, it is not known how to identify potential patients who would benefit most from treatment. The primary goal of this study is to determine if changes in specific electroencephalogram (EEG) parameters after treatment can predict whether patients are responders or non-responders to rTMS. The second objective is to analyze changes in the functional connectivity of specific brain regions in responders compared to non-responders. The hypothesis is that through rTMS treatment, investigators will be able to increase the activity in the frontal region that includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Scalp EEG signals will be processed in order to compare EEG brain connectivity and Frontal alpha asymmetry index (FAA) to determine if there are differences before and after the treatment. EEG FAA is usually calculated by subtracting the right-side EEG power estimates from the respective counterpart on the other side. According to literature, depressive patients seem to have comparatively higher left frontal alpha power. Cortical activity is related to a reduced EEG power, which is reflected in depressed subjects. On the other hand, higher alpha power could also be interpreted as inhibition. Investigators will try to delineate changes in resting EEG functional connectivity before and after high-frequency left prefrontal rTMS, by using biomarkers such as: time/frequency connectivity, Alpha asymmetry index, among others. TMS also allows cortical properties, such as excitability, inhibition, oscillatory activity and connectivity to be directly probed within a specific region of the cortex. Other studies suggest that alterations in gamma oscillations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and neighboring frontal regions are also potential shared biomarkers in psychiatry, highlighting the potential of EEG signals to help identify suitable biomarkers. Given its relative low cost and ease of use, when compared to brain imaging tools such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), EEG could be added to the clinical study so that precise neurophysiological changes before and after treatments can be assessed.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an online Multi-component psychological intervention, that is focused on reducing the consumption of ultra processed foods and increase the frequency of performing Physical Activity. At the same time to observe the effect on symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress.