Active clinical trials for "Psychotic Disorders"

This is a randomized controlled trial, examining the effects of a computerized, internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Intervention for persons with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder who experience distressing auditory hallucinations (voices). Participants are randomized to one of two conditions: either to receive the 10-session computer-based program on a weekly basis, or to their usual care at their mental health clinic. This study takes place at Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge Massachusetts. It is hypothesized that the participants who participate in the CBT program will have significant improvements in the severity of their auditory hallucinations, as well as their associated distress, compared to the participants receiving usual care.

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are serious and debilitating mental illnesses that incur substantial suffering for patients and major challenges to the investigators health care and legal systems. The prodrome is the period prior to onset of psychosis when functional decline and clinical symptoms gradually emerge. The presence of a clinical high-risk (CHR) syndrome in young adults is associated with heightened risk (25-35%) for the later development of psychosis, and for those who do not necessarily go on to develop a psychotic illness, research has suggested that the majority continue to have fluctuating subthreshold symptoms and poor social and role functioning. There are no specific treatments to help with these functional difficulties. However, recent findings suggest that in people with schizophrenia, Cognitive Behavioral and Social Skills Training (CBSST) leads to significantly greater increase in the frequency of social functioning activities compared to treatment as usual or goal-focused supportive therapy, and preliminary data suggest CBSST is a feasible treatment for CHR. This proposal is a competitive application for a three-site, longitudinal study aimed at testing the effectiveness and feasibility as well as mediators and mechanisms of action of a manualized CBSST intervention that will target functional difficulties associated with clinical risk states for psychosis. The goals are 1) to examine whether CBSST compared to a placebo intervention (psychoeducation) matched for group involvement and therapist time improves functioning in youth at CHR and 2) to determine whether reduction in defeatist beliefs and improvement in social competence mediate change in psychosocial functioning in CHR youth in the CBSST. In this single-blind randomized 2-arm trial participants will be randomized to one of two treatments: CBSST, an 18-week group comprised of three modules; 1) Cognitive Skills; 2) Social Skills; and 3) Problem Solving, or a psychoeducation support group that does not teach active cognitive behavioral therapy or social skills training. Over a five-year period, the multi-site collaboration will follow large CHR sample that will undergo comprehensive assessments of psychosocial and behavioral changes, to examine changes in social and role functioning, as well as symptom changes from baseline to the end of treatment, and to 6 month follow-up. This approach will demonstrate the feasibility of a treatment for which it is easy to train therapists and which can readily be disseminated to regular clinical community practice. In addition, it will provide insights into likely approaches to halting or mitigating the pathological process and advance the investigators understanding of risk prediction; both critical steps in prevention.

This is a randomized controlled 6-month trial of the efficacy of a novel intervention combining neuroplasticity-based cognitive training with aerobic exercise, compared to the same systematic cognitive training alone. The primary treatment targets are overall cognitive deficit level and independent living skills. The investigators hypothesize that combining neuroplasticity-based computerized cognitive training and neurotrophin-enhancing physical exercise will produce large cognitive and functional improvements, even relative to cognitive training alone. Adding aerobic exercise to a cognitive training program will have the additional benefit of helping to ameliorate medication side effects, reduce the risk for developing metabolic syndrome, and help to prevent the deterioration in physical health that usually follows the onset of schizophrenia and its pharmacologic treatment. The investigators target the period shortly after a first episode of schizophrenia to maximize the generalization of cognitive improvement to functional outcome, before chronic disability is established.

This study will assess the effectiveness of an experimental treatment intervention for adolescents and adults who have experienced their first episode of psychosis during the past two years. The DUP sub-study will collect pathways to care information that will be used to inform the development and pilot testing of strategies that aim to reduce DUP among individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis.

The purpose of this study is to determine if Ending Self-Stigma (ESS), a 9-session group intervention designed to assist veterans with serious mental illness to develop skills (SMI) to effectively cope with stigma and minimize the internalization of stigmatizing beliefs and stereotypes, is more effective in reducing internalized stigma and its associated effects than an active comparison group.

The overall goal of the present study is to determine whether Omega-3 Fatty Acids potentially prevent onset of psychosis and improve clinical symptoms and functional outcome in youth and young adults at elevated clinical risk for schizophrenia and related disorders. The specific aims are: (1) To determine whether the rate of progression to psychosis is lower during six months of treatment with Omega-3 Fatty Acids compared to six months of treatment with placebo, (2) To determine whether Omega-3 Fatty Acids are more efficacious than placebo for prodromal symptoms, negative symptoms, and functioning, (3) To assess the safety and tolerability of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in this population, and (4) To conduct analyses of neuroimaging, neurocognitive, electrophysiological and other ancillary data to explore mechanistic explanations for the hypothesized benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on clinical and functional outcomes (e.g., increases in white matter integrity and processing speed).

The purpose of this study is to establish pharmacodynamics (PD), pharmacokinetics (PK), and adverse event (AE) profile of OPC-34712 administered to schizophrenic/schizoaffective subjects. The goals of this trial are three-fold: To determine the effect of OPC-34712 on the individual QT interval (QTcI) corrected for placebo To determine the effect of moxifloxacin on QTcI To examine the concentration-effect relationship of OPC-34712 and moxifloxacin on QTcI

The purpose of this study is to determine whether cognitive remediation as an adjunct to supported education, will result in improved cognitive functioning, symptoms, and performance in academic domains for persons with psychosis compared to supported education given alone.

In this trial, researchers aim to investigate if prolonged-release melatonin can facilitate the withdrawal of chronic benzodiazepine administration in patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, researchers will investigate the association of benzodiazepine dose reduction with the following clinically important variables: sleep, psychophysiology, cognition, social function, and quality of life.

This study is designed with the aim to evaluate the clinical effect of the overlapped switching to ziprasidone as well as the efficacy and safe metabolic profile of ziprasidone.