Active clinical trials for "Bipolar Disorder"

The research study is being conducted to test whether using high dose spaced theta-burst rTMS (a form of transcranial magnetic stimulation) produces a significant reduction in depressive symptoms compared with sham. This project will recruit patients aged 18-70 with symptoms of bipolar depression who have failed (or not shown signs of improvement) after at least two prior treatments.

This is a controlled, randomized, prospective, open-label, non-inferiority trial lasting 12 months. The effectiveness of using a psychoeducational smartphone application (SIMPLe) will be compared to the effectiveness of face-to-face group psychoeducation.

Psychosis is a disabling condition that typically has its onset in adolescence and early adulthood. Many young people with psychosis have difficulty navigating services or are reluctant to engage in treatment until their illness becomes an emergency. Consequently, nearly half of all new psychotic disorders are diagnosed in the emergency department (ED). Despite the rationale and evidence for early psychosis intervention (EPI), around half of youth do not access these services. The investigators will use short message service (SMS)/text messaging, a low-cost, low-complexity, youth-friendly approach, to improve transitions in care from the ED and related acute services to EPI services, investigating the intervention's effect on attendance at the first consultation appointment, longer term service engagement, and system-level outcomes. The investigators will also evaluate cost-effectiveness and user perspectives of the intervention.

Serious mental illnesses require years of monitoring and adjustments in treatment. Stress, substance abuse or reduced medication adherence cause rapid worsening of symptoms, with consequences that include job loss, homelessness, suicide, incarceration, and hospitalization. Treatment visits can be infrequent. Illness exacerbations usually occur with no clinician awareness, leaving little opportunity to make treatment adjustments. Tools are needed that quickly detect illness worsening. At least two thirds of Veterans with serious mental illness use a smart phone. These phones generate data that characterize sociability, activity and sleep. Changes in these are warning signs for relapse. Members of this project developed an app that monitors and transmits these mobile data. This project studies passive mobile sensing that allows Veterans to self-track their activities, sociability and sleep; and studies whether this can be used to track symptoms. The project intends to produce a mobile platform that monitors the clinical status of patients, identifies risk for relapse, and allows early intervention.

Age is a major risk factor for the development of cognitive disorders and neurodegenerative pathologies. Cognitive disorders during the phases of bipolar disease are known to exist, and alterations increase significantly after the age of 65. Drug treatments seem to have only a limited effect. A cognitive stimulation program has proven his benefit to patients over 65 with neurodegenerative diseases (Israel, 2004). We propose to evaluate this cognitive stimulation program that we have adapted to bipolar disease.

The main aim of this research is to explore the effects that ketamine has on the functional connectivity of the brain in participants with treatment resistant depression (TRD). This study will investigate the relationship between these changes and response to treatment as measured by clinical scales, as well as examining drug induced changes in reward and emotion based brain activity, structural connectivity, cerebral blood flow, cognition, metabolism and blood markers of brain plasticity.

Adults with serious mental illness (SMI) are disproportionately affected by medical comorbidity, earlier onset of disease, and 10 to 25 years reduced life expectancy compared to the general population. These high rates of morbidity and early mortality are associated with inadequately managed medical and psychiatric illnesses. A recent systematic review found nine effective self-management interventions that address medical and psychiatric illnesses in adults with SMI. However, there has been limited adoption of these interventions due to both provider and consumer-based factors. Provider-based barriers consist of the lack of an adequate workforce with the capacity, time, and knowledge of effective approaches to self-management support for adults with SMI and chronic health conditions. Consumer-based barriers associated with limited participation in self-management programs include lack of access, engagement, and ongoing community-based support for persons with SMI. Peer support specialists have the potential to address these barriers as they comprise one of the fastest growing sectors of the mental health workforce, have "lived experience" in self-management practices, and offer access to support in the community. However, challenges need to be resolved for peers to be effective providers of evidence-based interventions. For example, peers are frequently trained to provide "peer support" described as "giving and receiving help founded on key principles of respect, shared responsibility, and mutual agreement of what is helpful". Peer support has been associated with increased sense of control, ability to make changes, and decreased psychiatric symptoms. Despite benefits, peer support does not adhere to evidence-based practices for psychiatric and medical self-management and does not follow protocols that ensure fidelity and systematically monitor outcomes. The investigators hypothesize that mobile technology has the potential to overcome these limitations of peer support by providing real-time guidance in fidelity adherent delivery of a peer-delivered, technology-assisted evidence-based self-management intervention (PDTA-IIMR). The investigator will build the necessary expertise to pursue a career developing and testing novel approaches to peer-delivered evidence-based self-management interventions. Training will include: development of peer-delivered interventions; development and design of mobile health-supported interventions; and intervention clinical trials research. Concurrently, this study includes refinement of the intervention protocol with input from peers and consumers and conducting a pilot study evaluating the feasibility and potential effectiveness of PDTA-IIMR compared to routine peer support for N=6 peers and N=40 adults with SMI and chronic health conditions. Outcomes include feasibility, medical and psychiatric self-management skills, functional ability, and mortality risk factors and examine self-efficacy and social support as mechanisms on outcomes.

A 16-week double blind, placebo-controlled investigation of escitalopram in adolescents with depression and/or anxiety with a family history of Bipolar Disorder. Subjects will be evaluated using semi-structured diagnostic interviews and symptom ratings, participate in a MRI scan and then randomized to treatment. Following randomization, high-risk youth will have visits every week for the first 4 weeks of treatment then biweekly up to 16 weeks during which time tolerability and ratings will be performed. MRI scan will be repeated at week 4.

The study consists of a clinical trial comparing a new structured group intervention, denominated "Cognitive-Behavioral Rehabilitation", to treatment as usual (TAU) for bipolar patients. The new approach is a combination of cognitive behavioral strategies and cognitive rehabilitation exercises, consisting of twelve weekly group sessions of 90 minutes each. To be included in the study, patients must be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, type I or II, be 18 to 55 years old, in full or partial remission and have an IQ of at least 80. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery, followed by mood, social functioning and quality of life assessments will occur in three moments: pre and post-intervention and after 12 months.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of light therapy for the treatment of bipolar type II patients relapsing into a depressive phase during autumn or winter.