Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

To study the effect of adjunctive bazedoxifene - a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) in a double blind, placebo-controlled adjunctive study in the treatment of women with schizophrenia. All patients receive standardized antipsychotic medication.

Treatment of depression with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has shown high evidence using high-frequency left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) stimulation. The treatment of negative symptoms with the same protocol in schizophrenia is considered as possible effective. Theta burst stimulation is a new protocol which is characterized by shorter sessions showing first evidence that it's efficacy is comparable to the high-frequency rTMS. In this randomized placebo-controlled study the efficacy of high-frequency rTMS and TBS are evaluated.

This is a double blind adjunctive randomized controlled trial for schizophrenia using cromoglicate.

This study seeks to explore the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive method of brain stimulation, as an adjunctive treatment to improve antipsychotic medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). The investigators hypothesize that 20 sessions of tDCS will improve medication nonadherence in patients with SCZ.

Hearing voices is probably the worst form of acoustic hallucinations; which can be experienced as severely disturbing and is influenced by diverse factors including the ability of the individual to influence and control the hallucinatory experience itself. In recent years virtual reality has become a treatment option. In the so-called AVATAR Therapy, patients with schizophrenia and acoustic hallucinations design a visual and auditory recreation (avatar) of the entity to which they attribute their hallucinations. Working with a therapist over the course of several sessions, participants change the avatar from controlling to benevolent. Avatar Therapy involves similar processes to learning and cognitive restructuring, comparable to other psychotherapeutic interventions. The investigators plan to conduct an interventional study using a cross-over design, to compare the feasibility and efficacy of virtual reality avatar therapy for patients with acoustic hallucinations (independent of psychiatric diagnosis) with a cognitive behavioural group therapy aimed to improve social competence.

Smokers with schizophrenia spectrum disorders have high rates of morbidity and mortality from smoking-related diseases compared with the general population and current options for smoking cessation in this vulnerable group are unsatisfactory. Considering that most people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders continue smoking, it is urgent to consider alternative and more efficient interventions to reduce or prevent their morbidity and mortality. Switching to combustion-free technologies for nicotine delivery (I.e. e-cigarettes) could be a pragmatic and much less harmful alternative to tobacco smoking with the possibility of significant health gains. Emerging research is suggesting that ECs may be useful for smoking cessation and relapse prevention in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In particular, a study conducted with JUUL e-cigarette with 5% nicotine strength showed that this product had sufficient nicotine delivery and product appeal to determine high success rates in heavy smokers with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In consideration of these preliminary findings, we hypothesized that switching smokers with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder diagnosis to JUUL e-cigarette with 5% nicotine strength could result in higher success rates compared to JUUL e-cigarette with 1.7% nicotine strength. Recent work indicates that nicotine PK of the JUUL e-cigarette with 5% nicotine strength (a device that utilizes a nicotine salt formulation) approximates the nicotine delivery of combustible cigarettes and that the 5% nicotine strength product is far more efficient in delivering nicotine compared to the sister product with 1.7% nicotine strength. Both products are identical in their appearance, making them suitable for a double-blind study design.

Despite overwhelming evidence for neurocognitive and neurophysiological factors involved in the etiology of psychosis, these factors have never been examined as mechanisms of improvement from CBTp. The first aim in the present study is to examine neurophysiological outcomes from CBTp using electroencephalography (EEG). The second aim is to examine neurocognitive outcomes from CBTp. This is an open-label pilot study. Twenty participants will receive CBTp and will be assessed at baseline and after 4 months.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether gaming intervention works well for persons with psychotic disorder. The main question to be answered is whether gaming works well in improving functioning, some other clinical outcomes or causing any adverse effects. Researchers will compare gaming group to usual care.

People with mental disorders face frequent stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors from others . In response to this, they tend to isolate themselves, with the risk of impeding care and the process of recovery and integration into society . Stigmatization can also be assimilated by patients themselves - i.e. self-stigma. Self-stigma is involved in diminished coping skills that lead to social avoidance and difficulties in adhering to care . Reducing self-stigma and its emotional corollary, shame, is thus crucial to attenuate the disability associated with mental illness. Shame is inherent to self-stigma and leads to difficulties in adhering to care as well as greater severity of clinical presentations . Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a third wave cognitive behavioral therapy that targets shame reduction and hostile self-to-self relationship and allows for symptom improvement while increasing self-compassion, a major resilience factor . Although shame is a prominent part of the concept of self-stigma, the efficacy of CFT has never been evaluated in individuals with high levels of self-stigma. In this study, the investigators will evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of a group based CFT program on decreasing self-stigma, compared to treatment as usual (TAU) and a psychoeducation program whose efficacy has been assessed in a previous trial.

Participants with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders who are experiencing active symptoms of psychosis will randomized to either receive 6 months of individual cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis or to receive treatment as usual. Participants will be assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months.