Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

Profession-led psycho-education programs for people with schizophrenia are evidenced to improve patients' knowledge about the illness, mental state and relapse rate. Nevertheless, other benefits to patients, for example, their functioning and insight into illness or to be substantive in a longer term (>12 months) are inconsistent and uncertain, especially in Asian populations. This single-blind multi-site randomized clinical trial was to test the effects of a peer-expert-led psycho-education group intervention (in addition to usual care) for adult patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders over a 24-month follow-up, in comparison to a profession-led psycho-education group or treatment-as-usual only.

This is a confirmatory randomized controlled trial of the efficacy of a novel intervention combining neuroplasticity-based cognitive training with aerobic exercise, compared to the same systematic cognitive training alone. Treatment occurs for 6 months after randomization, with a followup assessment at 12 months. The investigators hypothesize that combining neuroplasticity-based computerized cognitive training and neurotrophin-enhancing physical exercise will produce neurotrophin increases and cognitive and functional improvements, even relative to cognitive training alone. 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 take place at one outpatient clinic serving adults with serious mental illness and will recruit ten individuals (N=10) with a DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder to participate in an Open Trial of Motivation Skills Training (MST). MST is a weekly group-based skills training intervention that aims to improve knowledge about one's level and sources of motivation, the ability to monitor and regulate (understand and manage) motivation, so that one can better initiate and sustain goal-directed behavior. Participants who consent for research will complete assessments of motivation, goal attainment, quality of life, executive functioning, community functioning, and psychiatric symptoms severity. The intervention phase will be approximately 12 weeks in duration and will entail weekly MST group sessions. At treatment endpoint, participants will be asked to repeat the assessment battery from baseline as well as a satisfaction survey. Change in motivation, goal attainment and quality of life will indicate whether MST is engaging the hypothesized target (motivation) and whether there is impact on functioning.

The present study will assess the feasibility and social validity of an adjunctive health promotion group for youth and clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P). Youth participating in treatment at the Center for the Assessment and Prevention of Prodromal Sates (CAPPS) will be invited to participate in a weekly, adjunctive, closed psychoeducation group focused on sharing health promotion strategies and increasing health behaviors (e.g. improved sleep habits, increased participation in physical activity). The aim of the group will be to provide psychoeducation on lifestyle risk and protective factors for youth at risk for psychosis (i.e. experiencing subthreshold psychosis symptoms). Topics covered will include psychoeducation, goal setting, stress management, sleep, physical activity, substance use, and nutrition. Evidence-based strategies to decrease risk factors and promote protective lifestyle factors for mental illness will be reviewed. Group leaders will utilize a motivational interviewing approach to facilitate the group. The group will complete nine weekly group sessions. The goal of our research is to 1) determine the feasibility of a novel group-based health promotion intervention, 2) assess the social validity of the group, 3) measure the effects of the intervention on stress, sleep, physical activity, substance use, and nutrition, and 4) measure preliminary effects on symptoms and functioning.

Schizophrenia has a devastating and disproportionate effect on veterans compared to the general US population. Some of the most disabling symptoms, such as low motivation, difficulty expressing emotions, and decreased ability to infer the mental states of others, cause poor social functioning. This means that veterans with schizophrenia have trouble navigating interpersonal interactions and building meaningful relationships in the community. Unfortunately, current antipsychotic medications typically only improve positive symptoms but fail to improve social functioning deficits, which are strong predictors of poor quality of life and functional outcomes. Oxytocin, a peptide found in the brain, plays an important role in social behavior and is known to moderate affiliation, stress, and learning across taxa. In this study, the investigators will test whether oxytocin could be an effective treatment for social functioning deficits in schizophrenia. The investigators will examine changes in brain activation to understand how oxytocin affects behavior and to predict which individuals may benefit from oxytocin treatment.

Atypical antipsychotic medications, such as olanzapine, cause metabolic side effects, including weight gain, extra fat around the middle of the body, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. One of the mechanisms by which these medications may cause these effects is by reducing plasma melatonin. This study is a pilot project to evaluate 1) the effect of olanzapine on melatonin secretion levels and 2) the effect of melatonin on olanzapine-induced changes in melatonin secretion in patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or bipolar disorder.

The primary aim of this study is to provide confirmation that Cognitive Remediation (CR) for schizophrenia, when personalized based on pre-treatment assessment of early auditory processing ability, facilitates improved cognitive and functional outcomes. Additional aims of this study address the mechanisms of treatment effect. The study uses a repeated-measures randomized trial design. Enrollment will be by invitation, open to individuals receiving services at select community behavioral health facilities where CR is offered. Clients who are eligible for the service, who agree to participate in research and who meet inclusion/exclusion criteria will be assessed on outcome measures and categorized via performance on the Tone Matching (TM) test, as EAP impaired (EAP-) or EAP intact (EAP+). Subsequently, EAP- and EAP+ subgroups will be randomized to either (1) Brain Basics (BB; n = 100), an EAP-enhanced CR approach or (2) Brain Training (BT; n = 100), a routine CR approach. Participants will be invited to participate in a second pre-treatment assessment to measure electrophysiologic responses to auditory stimuli. All participants will be scheduled to repeat outcome measure assessments after treatment and after a follow-up period. The EAP- group receiving BB will be invited to repeat electrophysiological paradigms post-treatment to investigate mechanisms of change related to the CR intervention. Verbal learning will be the primary outcome with functional capacity the secondary outcome. EEG is exploratory and will examine neurophysiologic markers of need for and response to EAP training.

The investigators propose a cluster randomized effectiveness trial comparing Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT; a psychosocial treatment using environmental supports such as signs, alarms, pill containers, checklists, technology and the organization of belongings established in a person's home or work environment to bypass the cognitive and motivational difficulties associated with schizophrenia ) to existing community treatment (CT) for individuals with schizophrenia in 8 community mental health centers across multiple states including 400 participants. Mechanisms of action will be examined. Participants will be assessed at baseline and 6 and 12 months on measures of functional and community outcome, medication adherence, symptoms, habit formation and automaticity, cognition and motivation.

The investigators will evaluate the efficacy of a 2 various contingency management (CM) interventions (High-Magnitude CM, Shaping CM) for treating heavy drinking among individuals with serious mental illness and alcohol dependence who are seen within the context of a community mental health center setting. Participants will be 400 adults diagnosed with serious mental illness and alcohol dependence and those who demonstrate heavy drinking during the first 4 weeks will be randomized to receive treatment conditions.

The term social cognition refers to how social information is processed. Individuals with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder have been shown to have significant deficits in social cognition. Moreover, it has been speculated that these deficits may in turn have a negative impact on their overall functioning. Behavioral interventions targeting social cognition are just beginning to emerge, and there is a need to evaluate their efficacy. Objectives: This is a small trial evaluating the efficacy of social cognition interaction training (SCIT) an experimental behavioral treatment for improving social cognition in schizophrenia. Research Design and Methodology: Approximately 48 participants with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders will be randomized into one of two conditions: 1) a 20 to 24 session manualized social cognition interaction training group (SCIT), or 2) wait-list control. Pre-and post-group therapy assessments of symptoms, social cognition, basic cognition, and community function will be conducted. Data obtained from this study will allow us to determine the efficacy of SCIT training in improving symptom, cognitive, and functional measures.