Active clinical trials for "Bipolar Disorder"

This study evaluated whether lithium included as part of optimized medication treatment improved overall level of illness, symptoms of mania and depression, and quality of life in people with bipolar disorder.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of allopurinol as an augmentation agent for treatment resistant mania and mixed mania.

The primary objective of this 15-week clinical trial is to test the hypothesis that treatment with two proven mitochondrial enhancers, acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) and α-lipoic acid (ALA), has significantly greater efficacy than placebo as an augmentation treatment in bipolar depressed patients who display an incomplete response to conventional treatments.

Depression is a common illness with an approximate lifetime prevalence of 17 %, conferring a large burden of disease in the community, often due to inadequate treatment. Thus there is interest in the therapeutic potential of non invasive, novel forms of brain stimulation, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Two small studies have been published in the last two years indicating that 20 minutes of either 1 or 2mA tDCS over 5 or 10 sessions is safe, painless and well tolerated. The investigators' own pilot data (N=30) also suggests the technique has antidepressant effects and is safe (5-10 sessions of tDCS at 1 mA). This study will extend previous findings, testing a more definitive tDCS approach (also left prefrontal anodal stimulation) with a longer treatment course (15 sessions), at 2 mA (which has been found to be safe and more effective than 1 mA in cognitive studies), and in a larger sample (N=68), using a placebo-controlled design. It is hypothesised that active tDCS (15 sessions) will have greater efficacy than sham treatment (15 sessions) in reducing the severity of depressive symptoms in patients in an episode of major depression. A second hypothesis is that 15 sessions of tDCS will not cause any significant adverse effects or cause decline in neuropsychological functioning in comparison to a sham control.

This is an open-label pilot study of omega-3 fatty acids (Lovaza) for hypertriglyceridemia in subjects who have been on an atypical (second-generation) antipsychotic medication. The investigators hypotheses are that patients who receive Lovaza will experience a significant decrease in triglycerides from baseline. Secondary hypotheses include: Patients will experience a significant decrease in total cholesterol, and Lovaza will be well tolerated.

The investigators have developed an intervention called Behavioral Treatment of Smoking Cessation in SPMI (BTSCS), an innovative intervention that supplements pharmacotherapy and education with contingency management and a multifaceted behavioral group treatment program that lasts for three months (24 group meetings). BTSCS is designed to address the cognitive, motivational, and social support problems characteristic of people with SPMI. The investigators propose to conduct a randomized trial for persons with SPMI that compares (1) BTSCS: a 6-month manualized smoking cessation program adapted from an effective substance abuse treatment program for this population to (2) StSST: a standard manualized smoking cessation program which reflects current best practices.

We recruited 50 consenting adult subjects with DSM-IV TR diagnoses of bipolar disorder who were about to initiate or switch their current antipsychotic agent. Only 48 patients (23 in the risperidone LAI group and 25 in the oral AAP group) contributed data to the assessments. Patients were titrated and cross-tapered during a 3 month titration and stabilization phase. They were followed for an additional 12 months. Clinical outcomes such as study drop out, adverse events, worsening of symptoms, crisis interventions, need for additional medication, hospitalizations etc. were evaluated from months 3 to 15. The numbers of clinical events (pooled) will be used to evaluate if the long acting injectable form of risperidone has an advantage over the oral second generation antipsychotic agents in terms of treatment continuity and clinical stability.

The purpose of this study is to examine the safety and efficacy of Depakote ER in bipolar depression and to evaluate metabolic and GABA changes with Depakote ER administration using PET and MRI/MRS brain imaging techniques.

The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness and safety of lamotrigine in the treatment of youth with bipolar and bipolar spectrum disorder. This is an exploratory, 12-week, open-label treatment period, pilot study, of youth ages 6-17, who meet the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for bipolar I, bipolar II, or bipolar spectrum disorder. The study results will be used to generate hypotheses for a larger randomized controlled clinical trial. Based on the available literature in adults with bipolar disorder, we hypothesized that lamotrigine will be efficacious and well tolerated in youth with pediatric bipolar and bipolar spectrum disorders.

This study will determine the efficacy and safety of combination therapy with divalproex and lithium for treating mania in people with rapid cycling bipolar disorder and a substance abuse disorder.