Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

Cognitive deficits (CD) are considered one of the essential characteristics in psychotic disorders and occur throughout the course of the disease, being a key characteristic in the evolution of the disease and in the functionality and prognosis of patients. Intervening in the early stages of the disease and specifically in adolescence, a period of high brain plasticity can reduce disabilities in adulthood associated with early-onset psychosis. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation therapy in adolescents with a first psychotic episode, comparing two groups of these patients: a first group (CCRT) will carry out 40 sessions of a computerized cognitive remediation therapy with the usual treatment too, and a second group will perform only the usual treatment (TAU). The main hypothesis is that the CCRT group will present a significant improvement in verbal memory, visual attention, executive function, and social cognition and will present better global functioning compared to the TAU group.

Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder of the brain and is also one of the top ten disabling diseases. A common symptom of schizophrenia (SCZ) is hearing voices inside one's heads which others do not. Despite adequate medication, SCZ patients may continue to hear voices that are often rude or unfriendly and cause distress to the patients. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, non-invasive brain stimulation technique that reduces 'hearing voices'. However, how and why add-on tDCS works is unclear. The brain can change itself in response to its environment; this is called neuroplasticity. tDCS possibly changes the brain's environment and/or enhances the brain's ability to respond favourably to its environment. This theory will be examined here by studying changes in brain functions before and after giving tDCS to schizophrenia patients hearing voices. The aim of this study is to examine the brain's neuroplasticity potential as the biological phenomena driving treatment effects of tDCS in Schizophrenia patients with clinically significant and persistent auditory verbal hallucinations. The secondary aims are to answer whether the brain's neuroplasticity potential in schizophrenia patients can predict their responsivity to tDCS treatment for auditory verbal hallucinations, and if chronicity of illness effects tDCS treatment response. The brain's neuroplasticity potential will be examined using neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques that give information about the integrity of the brain's signal processing efficiency, the chemical concentration of certain bio-molecules within it, and how well different areas of the brain communicate with each other. With this information, the potential role of the brain's neuroplasticity potential in facilitating treatment effects of tDCS can be better understood. With this knowledge, it could be possible personalize tDCS treatment, profile tDCS responders and non-responders based on demographic and biological factors, and prescribe tDCS at the appropriate time within the illness course for maximal benefit to the SCZ patients.

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.

Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) will be exposed to active and sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in separate sessions. SSD-related biomarkers will be assessed before and after the rTMS administration.

Schizophrenia affects a significant proportion of the population and current levels of understanding of the illness is inadequate to treat it effectively. Converging lines of evidence suggest that neuroinflammation occurs in schizophrenia, and specifically over-activity of brain-resident immune cells called microglia. It is however unclear whether activated microglia play a primary role in schizophrenia, or whether this is a secondary phenomenon of no pathophysiological significance. The investigators therefore plan to test the effect of a monoclonal antibody (natalizumab) on psychotic symptoms in a cohort of first episode psychosis patients.

This clinical trial is a single center, single dose study of the acute effects of intranasal insulin on energy metabolism and cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective and bipolar disorders, compared and healthy controls.

Higher rates and severity of tobacco dependence in people with schizophrenia, as compared with the general population, contribute to the lower life expectancy seen in this population. Dependent tobacco smoking is controlled by how different aspects of cigarette smoking are perceived. There is evidence suggesting that people with schizophrenia differ in how they perceive cigarette smoking, which, if confirmed, would have implications for tailoring treatment interventions for smoking cessation in schizophrenia.

Disorders of social cognition, and empathy more specifically, are at the heart of schizophrenic pathology in that they are strongly linked to the social handicap of patients. It is therefore necessary to refine our knowledge of the cognitive and affective processes behind this empathic disorder and to identify objective and easily measurable markers (related to brain functioning collected by electroencephalography) of these processes with the subsequent aim of improving their management. It is also relevant to question the trait/status nature of these empathic disorders by studying these markers in individuals presenting more or less marked schizotypic traits and therefore more or less at risk of developing schizophrenia. Studying the possibility that empathy disorders may be part of the factors of developmental vulnerability for schizophrenia and identifying objective markers of this vulnerability could allow, in case of development of the pathology, a more rapid diagnosis and a more effective management.

The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between psychotic symptoms and social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Our goal is to determine whether stimulating the brain using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve symptoms and daily functioning.

The goal of this re-measured quasi-experimental study is to evaluate the effect of Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT-G) intervention given to caregiver family members of people with schizophrenia on caregiver burden, perception of social support and stigma, adherence to treatment in people with schizophrenia they care for, and emotional expression in both caregivers and people with schizophrenia they care for. The main hypotheses it aims to test are: IPT-G intervention will reduce the caregiver burden of caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia. IPT-G intervention will increase the perceived social support levels of caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia. IPT-G intervention will reduce the level of stigma of caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia. IPT-G intervention will reduce the level of emotional expression of caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia. IPT-G intervention applied to caregivers will increase the level of adherence to treatment of individuals with schizophrenia they care for. IPT-G intervention applied to caregivers will reduce the emotional expression levels of individuals with schizophrenia they care for.