Active clinical trials for "Bipolar Disorder"

This study is designed to prospectively confirm the efficacy of a fixed-dose regimen of cariprazine 1.5 milligrams (mg)/day or 3 mg/day compared to placebo for treatment of the depressive episode in participants with bipolar I disorder. The safety and tolerability of the fixed-dose regimens will be evaluated.

To evaluate the effectiveness of three systematic interventions for Bipolar Disorder (BD) mixed episodes using medications available in the Brazilian Public Healthcare System (SUS), and assessment of the quality of life of these patients. A randomized pragmatic trial was conducted. An algorithm was developed for the treatment of episodes of bipolar mixed episodes.

Adolescence is the peak onset period for serious and persistent psychiatric disorders. Treatment guidelines for management of major psychiatric disorders in youth include pharmacotherapy. There has been substantial progress in recent years in identifying effective medications for youth with psychiatric disorders. However, adherence to prescribed medications among psychiatric populations is notoriously low, and adolescents rank among the least adherent of all patient populations. Given that the consequences of poor medication adherence among youth with chronic mental illness are far-reaching, including hospitalization, poor functioning, and suicide, there is a desperate need for interventions targeting medication adherence in this population.

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.

This proposed study is designed to compare the efficacy of interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) alone to IPSRT plus medication as an acute treatment for bipolar II depression. The investigators propose to conduct a randomized, controlled, trial comparing the effects of IPSRT plus pill placebo to IPSRT plus quetiapine on depressive symptoms in individuals suffering from Bipolar II depression. The investigators will also examine the impact of treatment on psychosocial function.

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.

This study will examine whether extended release galantamine, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce cognitive impairments in people with Alzheimer's disease, can perform the same function in stable people with bipolar disorder.

The primary aim of this project is to understand whether it is possible to reduce medical risk factors in adults with bipolar disorder and, in doing so, to improve psychiatric and functional outcomes. We will examine the role of behavioral risk factors and presumed behavioral mediators and moderators of health risk in individuals suffering from bipolar I disorder. The investigators will employ an innovative behavioral intervention with guideline based psychiatric care ( Integrated Risk Reduction Intervention - IRRI) in order to target modifiable medical risk factors.

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 study involves pilot testing of a modified version of a proven treatment for mental illness. The treatment, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is used to treat more than 100,000 Americans yearly. ECT is the most effective treatment for major depression, a disorder that affects approximately 5 to 8 percent of the adult US population yearly. It is also an effective treatment for mania and mixed mood states associated with bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder. The aim of ECT is to induce a seizure, which is thought to be responsible for both its therapeutic and its adverse cognitive effects. The proposed modification consists of reducing the ECT electrical stimulus dose below the amount necessary to induce seizures so that adverse cognitive effects, such as confusion and memory problems, are minimized. The investigators intend to determine whether ECT-related cognitive impairment can be reduced without diminishing the therapeutic effect of ECT. In addition to distressing patients, ECT-related cognitive impairment has significant public health consequences. These include increased morbidity and mortality among severely ill individuals who refuse ECT due to concern over its adverse cognitive effects as well as increased falls among the elderly receiving ECT. Elderly patients are far more likely to receive ECT and are also more vulnerable to ECT-related cognitive impairment. They often require hospitalization for ECT and a longer hospital stay with greater spacing of treatments to minimize adverse cognitive effects. The hypothesis driving this research is that electrical brain stimulation applied in the same manner as standard ECT, but at a lower dose, can have therapeutic effects and fewer adverse cognitive effects without inducing seizures. This hypothesis is based on the following: 1) the investigators clinical experience of patients who have improved with ECT despite having only one or no seizure, 2) animal studies showing that electrical brain stimulation can induce antidepressant like effects in animals without inducing seizures, 3) reports from the 1950s that "subconvulsive" and "nonconvulsive" electrotherapy was effective for some patients, and 4) the recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation --a technique that uses a magnet to induce an electrical current in the brain without inducing seizures--for treatment of medication resistant major depression. The primary aim of the research is to conduct a proof of concept, open trial investigating the therapeutic efficacy and safety of nonconvulsive electrotherapy (NET). The investigators plan to enroll 16 subjects, which is the minimum number of subjects needed to show that the therapeutic effect of NET is better than would be expected of placebo. If the investigators show that the therapeutic effect of NET exceeds that expected of placebo and does not induce significant cognitive impairment, then the investigators will go on to propose a blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial that more definitively tests the investigators' hypothesis. The investigators would use the information gathered from the pilot trial to estimate the number of subjects needed to definitively test the efficacy and safety of NET. The secondary aim of the study is to find out whether NET affects blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF is a substance that is important to the nervous system and may be related to how treatments like ECT or possibly NET improve symptoms. The investigators would draw a blood sample before and after NET treatment to assess this.