Active clinical trials for "Psychotic Disorders"

We are conducting a randomized, 24-week, double-blind study, comparing fluoxetine with aripiprazole in 48 patients with attenuated positive symptoms at a level of at least moderate severity.

The purpose of this study is to address the shortcoming in clinical hallucination research by causally manipulating the neural loci of conditioned hallucination task behavior in-person in patients with psychosis using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), tracking the impact of this manipulation on the number of times participants with hallucinations report hearing tones that were not presented. With such a causal intervention, the veracity of this explanation of hallucinations will be either validated or disconfirmed. If validated, the task can be further developed as a biomarker for predicting the hallucination onset, guiding, developing or tracking the effects of treatments for hallucinations.

The goal of this project is to understand whether glycine is helpful for improving some symptoms of schizophrenia such as low motivation, loss of interest, and social isolation. In addition, the investigators want to find out if glycine improves memory. This project involves a three-and-a-half month trial of glycine or placebo. A placebo looks exactly like the study drug, but it contains no active drug. Glycine is a naturally occurring substance that is a part of some of the proteins in your body. Glycine has not been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for the treatment of schizophrenia. However, the FDA allows it to be used in research studies. Related Study at McLean Hospital: If you would like to participate in this study of glycine versus placebo at the Freedom Trail Clinic, the investigators will ask you if you would also like to participate in a related study at McLean Hospital. The study at McLean Hospital will look at the effects of glycine and placebo on levels of glycine in the brain. The study will use magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure brain glycine levels. The magnetic resonance (MR) scanner looks like a large cylinder with a tube running down the center. You will be asked to lie down on your back on a foam-padded table and place your head into a special holder. The table will slide you inside the "hole" of the scanner. Soft foam rubber sponges may be placed on both sides of your head for comfort and to help keep your head from moving. Because the scanner contains a strong magnet, you will be asked to remove all metal objects from your person including, but not limited to: watches, rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other body piercings, belts, loose change, wallet (with credit cards), items of clothing containing magnetic materials (for example, underwire bras, certain types of zippers), and shoes. These items will be secured in a safe place until your scan is completed. You will be able to remain in your street clothes. The investigators will ask you if study staff from McLean Hospital can contact you to tell you more about the study. You may refuse to be contacted by McLean Hospital. However, if you do not participate in the study at McLean, you are not eligible for the study here at the Freedom Trail Clinic.

In a double blind randomized clinical trial with cross-over design, treatment using naratriptan will be compared to placebo within a group of 30 convicts with psychiatric disorders such as psychosis or psychopathy with repeated aggressive outbursts resistant to conventional psychopharmacologic and other psychotherapeutic treatment. Hypothesis is that addition of naratriptan to the individual treatment regime reduces aggression -and improves general outcome- as compared to addition of placebo and is well tolerated in this group and under these conditions.

Social cognition impairment is critical to the pathology and morbidity of a number of psychiatric disorders, including the schizophrenia spectrum, the autism spectrum and the personality disorders, thus representing a dimension consistent with RDoC. As such, this study aims to a) further characterize the unique deficits in social cognition (recognition and interpretation of social cues and representation of thoughts, intentions, and feelings of others) across disorders, including the schizophrenia spectrum (which includes schizophrenia, SCZ, schizoaffective disorder, SAD, bipolar disorder, BD, and schizotypal personality disorder, SPD), the autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and borderline personality disorder (BPD) compared to healthy controls (HC); b) assess the effect of intranasal oxytocin (OXT) as a regulator and novel treatment of social cognition impairment in these disorders; and c) enhance our understanding of the specificity and exact mechanisms of impairment to inform the accurate dosing of OXT required to modulate social cognition in these disorders and identify a model of optimum social cognitive function. Addressing these questions will further catalyze research into a model of optimum social cognitive activity, and accelerate industry development of agents suited to routine clinical administration.

This study is a 4-week pilot study for subjects with Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder who have not experienced a significant relief of symptoms from current anti-psychotic medication. The Investigators hypothesize that 4 weeks of telmisartan at 80mg daily will alter blood biomarkers for inflammation and oxidative stress after 4 weeks treatment.

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether aspirin is effective in alleviating symptoms of the clinical high risk (CHR) syndrome for psychosis. The investigators further aim to determine whether it may delay or prevent the onset of psychosis in those currently experiencing CHR symptoms. As secondary measures the investigators aim to collect laboratory studies of inflammation markers and genetic samples to determine whether certain genetic profiles correlate with risk for psychosis, or response to aspirin treatment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the short - term effects of clozapine on alcohol use in persons with schizophrenia and an alcohol use disorder. The hypothesis is that clozapine will have greater efficacy in reducing alcohol use than other antipsychotic medications.

One purpose of this study is to test whether adding metformin will limit some of the unwanted effects of clozapine, compared to not adding metformin. Metformin is a medication that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Studies have found that people with type-2 diabetes often lose some weight when they take metformin, however the FDA has not approved metformin for weight loss, so for this study the use of metformin is investigational. This study will test whether metformin can help people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders lose weight. Another purpose of this study is to test whether adding fish oil will improve the benefit of clozapine and/or limit some of the unwanted effects of clozapine, compared to not adding fish oil. Fish oil is a medication used to reduce levels of some fats (triglycerides) in blood. Some studies have found that adding fish oil reduces psychosis (voices, suspiciousness). However the FDA has not approved fish oil for reducing psychosis, so for this study the use of fish oil is investigational. This study will test whether fish oil can help people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders have less psychosis. Fish oil is not an antipsychotic medication.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether omega-3 fatty acids are effective in the prevention of psychosis in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis.