Active clinical trials for "Bipolar Disorder"

The purpose of this study is to evaluate minocycline as a potential treatment for bipolar depression when added to a mood-stabilizing medication. Minocycline is an antibiotic that is approved for the treatment of infections and acne. Participation in this research study is expected to last 8 weeks, and includes five outpatient visits.

Bipolar Disorder (BD) is among the most comon and challenging conditions in psychiatry. Although episodes of mania and hypomania define the different types of the disorder, the clinical picture is one dominated by depressed mood and agitation. The mainstay of BD treatment has thus far been pharmacologic, but many patients remain severely disabled by their condition, despite the best available medical treatment. The successful use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in movement disorders, and its promising results in major depressive disorder (MDD), has led researchers to consider its use in highly selected refractory cases of BD. Evidence form the imaging and circuitry literature suggests that similar underlying dyfunctional anatomic structures subserve both MDD and BD, indicating that modulation of key structures, can lead to an amelioration of symptoms and mood stabilization. Here, we propose a phase I clinical trial to evaluate the safety of DBS in BD.

The aim of the study was to determine the pharmacological induced equivalents of neurogenesis and synaptic sprouting in the hippocampus, localized volume changes, changes in water content and neurochemical changes in the medial temporal regions.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety over a 6-week period of paliperidone ER compared with placebo in treating subjects with Bipolar I Disorder who are experiencing a manic or mixed episode while they are taking lithium or valproate. This study will also evaluate the effect of paliperidone ER compared with placebo on overall functioning, on how quickly a response is seen, on improvement in severity of illness, on health-related functional status, on depressive symptoms, and on psychotic symptoms. The relationship between blood levels and the effectiveness and safety of paliperidone ER will be evaluated, including the effect of food relative to time of taking the drug.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a common and severe psychiatric illness. Drug and alcohol abuse are very common in people with BD and other mood disorders and are associated with increased rates of hospitalization, violence towards self and others, medication non-adherence and cognitive impairment. However, few studies have investigated the treatment of dual-diagnosis patients as substance use is frequently an exclusion criterion in clinical trials of patients with BD. To address this need, we have developed a research program that explores the pharmacotherapy of people with BD and substance related-disorders. A potentially very interesting treatment for BD is citicoline. Some data suggest that this supplement may stabilize mood, decrease drug use and craving, and improve memory. We found promising results with citicoline in patients with BD and cocaine dependence. In recent years the use of amphetamine and methamphetamine has become an important public health concern. However, virtually no research has been conducted on the treatment of amphetamine abuse. We propose a double-blind placebo controlled prospective trial of citicoline in a group of 60 depressed outpatients with bipolar disorder, depressed phase or major depressive disorder and amphetamine abuse/dependence, to explore the safety and tolerability of citicoline, and its efficacy for mood symptoms, stimulant use and craving and its impact on cognition. Our goal is to determine which symptoms (e.g. mood, cognition, substance use) citicoline appears to be most effective and estimate effect sizes for future work.

It is hypothesized that the use of aripiprazole (Abilify) in patients with alcohol and/or drug dependence with comorbid psychiatric conditions will lead to: Reduction in the amount of alcohol and/or drugs used as measured by the Time Line Follow Back (TLFB) and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) Reduction in cravings for alcohol and drugs as measured by the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale Reduction in symptoms of co-morbid psychiatric disorders compared to before starting aripiprazole.

Aim: In a population of first episode manic patients with psychotic features, we want to compare the side effect profile, the degree of adherence and the subjective well being, as well as the efficacy of two treatments: The standard treatment currently applied (lithium + chlorpromazine) and an alternative treatment more recently introduced (lithium + olanzapine). In addition, we want to study retrospectively the development of bipolar disorder and study prospectively the 6 and 12-month outcome of a cohort of patients presenting a first manic episode with psychotic features. Research Background: While the efficacy of lithium in the treatment of acute mania has been established by numerous studies, it is also known that up to 50% of the patients fail to respond when it is prescribed alone. It is therefore common practice to complement the treatment, most commonly with antipsychotics and benzodiazepines. It has been suggested that antipsychotic agents are faster acting and are superior in controlling hyperactivity compared to lithium, whereas mood stabilisation is better achieved by lithium, Typical antipsychotics, such as chlorpromazine, may therefore be useful as adjunctive medication to mood stabilisers, especially within the first few weeks of treatment of acute mania, and for patients exhibiting psychotic symptoms or hyperactivity. They however can induce side effects (somnolence, dizziness, dry mouth, extrapyramidal side effects such as rigidity of the muscles, and possibly tardive dyskinesia (involuntary movements or contraction of muscles), as well as akathysia (sense of restlessness). They finally have been suspected to contribute to the occurrence of post-manic depression. Recent publications in chronic populations have shown that atypical antipsychotics, such as olanzapine, are also an effective adjunctive treatment. Olanzapine has the important advantage to induce a very low incidence of extrapyramidal side effects, including tardive dyskinesia. It can however induce somnolence, dizziness, dry mouth, and rather commonly weight gain. Moreover, some authors have reported that olanzapine might induce mania. Both treatments appear then to have positive effects as well as undesirable side effects. Our project is to compare them. The literature concerning first episode mania is sparse, particularly in the domain of pharmacotherapy. One retrospective study showed that 77% of the patients received antipsychotics at discharge and 25% at 6 months follow-up. No comparison has however been made between typical and atypical antipsychotics, and there are no specific treatment guidelines of first episode mania with psychotic features. Project Summary: The hypothesis is that olanzapine and chlorpromazine will have a comparable efficacy as adjunctive treatment of the acute manic episode with psychotic features. We however think olanzapine will induce less side effects and will be better accepted by the patients, and therefore that the adherence to the treatment will be better than with chlorpromazine. We finally think the subjective sense of well being will be greater with olanzapine than with chlorpromazine.We will recruit 75 patients at the time of their first admission for mania with psychotic features at EPPIC. After signature of the informed consent, we will perform a baseline assessment first to confirm the diagnosis, and second to evaluate the level of psychopathology. The patients will then be randomly selected to receive either a treatment of lithium and olanzapine or a treatment of lithium and chlorpromazine. By the end of the study there will be 37 patients in each group.The patients will go through a baseline assessment including physical examination and usual laboratory investigation to exclude any physical illness. They will also go through a one-hour assessment of psychopathology. Between day 2 and 3 they will go through 2 hours of interview to reassess diagnosis and personal history. They will thereafter be assessed weekly for eight weeks on various dimensions: evolution of the intensity of the symptoms, appearance of depressive symptoms, occurrence of side effects and degree of adherence to the treatment, in an 1-hour interview. Subjective well being and quality of life will re evaluated at week 4 and 8, adding 45 minutes to the duration of the interview. This is a flexible dose, open trial, which means the doctor in charge of the patient will know which medication is being prescribed, and that he will be allowed to adapt the dosage according to what he feels necessary. This research project will allow us to organise a more specialised clinic for the care of first episode manic patients. We will take this opportunity to study carefully the months preceding the appearance of the first episode in order to try to reconstruct the prodrome of bipolar disorders. We will also, in an extension phase of the study, look at the long term outcome (at 6 and 12 months) of a first episode of mania.

To study the efficacy and safety of beaded extended-release Carbamazepine (Equetro) in the treatment of patients with Bipolar Disorder with a Major Depressive Episode.

This study will compare two different antidepressant treatment regimens to determine which is more effective in reducing symptoms of bipolar depression.

The purpose of this clinical research study is to learn if outpatients with bipolar mania who are partially nonresponsive to lithium or valproate monotherapy can achieve stable symptoms on a combination treatment of aripiprazole plus lithium or valproate.