Get Moving and Get Well - Pilot Study
SchizophreniaSchizoaffective Disorder3 moreIndividuals with serious mental illness have greater morbidity from physical illness and mortality than the general population, but tend not to initiate or sustain engagement in health promotion interventions. Although promising weight management and wellness interventions have been developed for this population, they are very intensive and tend to have low enrollment, high attrition, and low reach. This pilot study will investigate a novel low-demand intervention that may be initially more acceptable, the Get Moving and Get Well! (GMGW) program. The primary objectives of the proposed study are to investigate the effects of participation in the GMGW program on measures of behavioral activation, self-efficacy, physical activity, general physical and mental health, mood, participants' intent to engage in more intensive physical health interventions, and actual engagement in those programs. Results of this pilot study will inform a future full-scale study of GMGW.
Thinking Skills for Work in Severe Mental Illness
SchizophreniaSchizoaffective Disorder3 moreThe purpose of this study is help people with serious mental illness and receiving vocational rehabilitation get and keep the job they want by improving their thinking skills, such as attention and memory, using computer exercises and other strategies. One half of the participants in the study will receive vocational rehabilitation and the exercises to improve thinking skills, and the other half will receive just vocational rehabilitation. All participants will receive an assessment of symptoms and thinking skills at the beginning of the study and 6, 12, and 24 months later. Work activity during the 24 months in the study will be collected. It is expected that those participants who receive the practice of their thinking skills will be more likely to get and keep the job they want compared with people who do not receive this treatment.
Ketamine as an Augmentation Strategy for Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in Depression
Unipolar DepressionBipolar DepressionThe study aims to compare outcomes of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) using ketamine versus methohexital anesthesia in depressed patients. The investigators hypothesize that patients who receive ketamine anesthesia during ECT will achieve remission status faster than those receiving methohexital anesthesia. Also, at the end of the ECT course subjects will display fewer cognitive side effects compared to those treated with methohexital anesthesia.
tRNS in Anterior Cingulate Cortex Reduces Craving Over Dual Pathology Patients
Substance Use DisorderAttention Deficit Disorder With Hyperactivity3 moreThe purpose of this study is to study the efficacy and security of noninvasive brain stimulation as a new approach for patients with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) plus other psychiatric conditions like ADHD, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, etc.
Lithium for Suicidal Behavior in Mood Disorders
Depressive DisorderBipolar Disorder3 moreObservational evidence and findings from clinical trials conducted for other reasons suggest that lithium, a drug used for the treatment of bipolar disorder, and, to a lesser extent, depression, may reduce rates of suicides and suicide attempts. However, this hypothesis has not yet been adequately examined in a randomized clinical trial conducted specifically to test lithium's efficacy in preventing suicides. This clinical trial fills this gap. This study is feasible within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) because it is a large, integrated health system with existing programs for identifying patients at risk for suicide and delivering enhanced services. In VA, approximately 12,000 patients with depression or bipolar disorder survive a suicide attempt or related behavior each year, and 15% of them repeat within one year. Experimental treatment in this study will supplement usual care for major depression or bipolar disorder, as well as VA's standard, enhanced management for patients at high risk. The investigators will recruit 1862 study participants, from approximately 30 VA Hospitals. Participants will be patients with bipolar disorder or depression who have survived a recent episode of suicidal self-directed violence or were hospitalized specifically to prevent suicide. Randomly, half will receive lithium, and half will receive placebo. Neither the patients nor their doctors will know whether a particular person has received lithium or placebo. The treatment will be administered and the patients will be followed for one year, after which patients will go back to usual care. Recruitment will occur over 3 years. The investigators are primarily interested in whether lithium leads to increases in the time to the first repeated episode of suicidal behavior, including suicide attempts, interrupted attempts, hospitalizations specifically to prevent suicide, and deaths from suicide. In addition, this study will allow us to explore whether lithium decreases the total number of suicidal behaviors, and whether it has comparable effects on impulsive and non-impulsive behaviors. If there is an effect of lithium, the investigators will be interested in whether or not it could be attributed to improved control of the underlying mental health condition, or, alternatively, whether it represents a direct effect of suicide-related behavior.
Multiple Treatment Study Using Low Field Magnetic Stimulation for Bipolar Depression
Bipolar DepressionObjectives: To demonstrate the duration of the antidepressant effect of Low Field Magnetic Stimulation (LFMS)in subjects with bipolar depression. Hypotheses: Investigators expect subjects who receive LFMS to show significant mood improvement one week after the start of a three day course of daily stimulation as compared to subjects who receive sham LFMS. Investigators expect subjects who receive LFMS to show immediate mood improvement over the first treatment as measured by the difference in pre and post-treatment PANAS+ ratings. Investigators expect to show that LFMS will be well tolerated in a three-treatment protocol.
Minocycline and Celecoxib as Adjunctive Treatments of Bipolar Depression
DepressionBipolar Disorder2 moreBipolar disorder is a leading cause of disability worldwide. A high proportion of patients with bipolar disorder experience persistent depressive symptoms that do not respond to standard drug treatments. Recent evidence has suggested that anti-inflammatory treatment may reduce depressive symptoms. Minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic with good central nervous system (CNS) penetration that has been suggested to be effective as an adjunct drug in improving depressive symptoms. Celecoxib, a selective cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) inhibitor, has also shown promising results in the treatment of depressive symptoms. In this factorial design, double blind, randomised controlled trial the investigators will determine the efficacy of minocycline and/or celecoxib as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU) in patients experiencing a depressive phase of bipolar I or II disorder. The investigators hypothesise that augmentation with minocycline and/or celecoxib will lead to an improvement in depressive symptoms in participants in comparison with placebo.
Quetiapine in the Treatment of Postpartum Depression (PPD) in Bipolar Disorder (BD), Type II
Postpartum DepressionThis is a 9-week single-centre, open-label, dose-escalating study evaluating the efficacy and safety of Quetiapine XR given as monotherapy in the treatment of non-lactating, post-partum women diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder. Subjects will need to visit the study doctor up to 8 times over a period of 9 weeks. During the study period, subjects will be receiving a treatment with Quetiapine XR. The starting dose of quetiapine that subjects will receive is 50mg. The response to the treatment of quetiapine will determine whether the study doctor will increase the dosage of the subject's quetiapine. If the study doctor increases the quetiapine during the study, the maximum dosage allowable during the study is 300mg.
Supraphysiological Doses of Levothyroxine as Adjunctive Therapy in Bipolar Depression
Bipolar DisorderThere is growing evidence that thyroid axis dysfunction may contribute to the pathophysiology of bipolar illness. Open-label studies have consistently demonstrated that the behavioral expression of bipolar disorder can be modified by a change in thyroid status, and in many instances the course of illness is improved through the use of adjunct thyroid hormone treatment. Recent evidence emerged from acute intervention studies that add-on treatment with supraphysiological doses of levothyroxine is an effective augmenting agent in patients with a major depressive episode. The primary goal of this international multicenter trial (5 sites) is to determine in a 13-week, randomized, placebo-controlled design (1 week single-blind placebo run-in, 6 week double-blind, 6 week open-label) the efficacy and safety of add-on treatment with levothyroxine (300 mcg/d) in combination with mood stabilizer/antidepressant therapy in the treatment of patients with bipolar depression. The main hypotheses is: treatment with levothyroxine will result in a significantly greater mean reduction of HRSD total score and in a higher number of responders and remitters compared to placebo treatment. This proposal will build on our pilot data and provide evidence for the use of levothyroxine as an effective augmentation strategy in the treatment of bipolar depression.
Sequential Multiple Assignment Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar I DisorderBipolar II DisorderThe purpose of this study is to compare which of the two mood stabilizers (drugs that help to steady/stabilize mood in patients with bipolar disorder (BD)), lithium and divalproex, is more effective in patients with bipolar disorder over 26 weeks. The study will also compare if lithium or divalproex used alone versus lithium or divalproex used with quetiapine versus lithium or divalproex used with lamotrigine is more effective when symptoms of depression develop.