Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

Objective: To understand the personal experience of schizophrenia patients following repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and its connection with changes in mental symptoms, thereby enhancing the overall understanding of TMS. Method: The investigators selected eligible schizophrenia patients for fixed-parameter rTMS treatment. A self-experience checklist post-TMS treatment and positive and negative symptom scales (PANSS) were applied to evaluate the treatment.

The purpose of this single-arm feasibility study is to develop and pilot test a novel process-based and modular group therapy approach for patients with acute psychotic symptoms in an inpatient setting.

Metabolic syndrome is common in patients of schizophrenia. It can add to morbidity, loss of functionality and discontinuation of antipsychotic medication. Apart from metformin, there are limited treatment options as add on-s to antipsychotics for treatment of metabolic syndrome. There have been placebo-controlled studies of Topiramate as an adjuvant but the present study would be the first head-on trial between these drugs for treatment of metabolic syndrome in patients of schizophrenia. If the outcome measures show a significant improvement with add on topiramate when compared with Metformin, then add on Topiramate can be a preferred treatment for metabolic syndrome in patients with schizophrenia on atypical antipsychotics. The adverse effects of Metformin can be side-stepped and Topiramate can also be given in conditions which are contraindications for Metformin. Thus, Topiramate can be a good alternative to metformin especially in conditions like liver, cardiac and renal impairment where metformin use should be avoided. Topiramate can not only improve metabolic parameters but can also have a beneficial effect on the symptom severity of schizophrenia. Thus, it can be a good augmentation drug to be used along with antipsychotics in these patients.

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder affecting 20 million people throughout the world and is the fourth leading cause of disability in the developed world. Currently, restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cause greater social withdrawal, reduced access to social support, lack of motivation, under-activity and loneliness for patients with schizophrenia. Given the prevalence of under-activity, interventions such as dance/movement therapy that use movement and dance to support intellectual, emotional, and motor functions of the body, can optimize the functioning of individuals with schizophrenia. There have been urgent calls for research on telehealth interventions to address the mental health needs caused by COVID-19 pandemic. To address this call, this study will test the feasibility and acceptability of a novel, 10-week dance/movement therapy protocol to promote activation in chronic schizophrenia designed for telehealth delivery. This study will be the first to examine the feasibility and preliminary effects of telehealth dance/movement therapy to promote activation in chronic schizophrenia. This study can contribute towards the development of telehealth interventions for treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with chronic schizophrenia.

The Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a type of brain stimulation that uses a magnet to change activity in the brain. rTMS uses magnetic pulses to induce an electrical current in the brain to alter brain activity and function in specific areas. For example, stimulating the part of the brain controlling movement will cause parts of the foot or leg to twitch. TMS is proposed as a novel treatment for people with schizophrenia. The investigators want to see if low frequency rTMS can lessen some of the symptoms of schizophrenia, specifically auditory verbal hallucinations. Auditory verbal hallucinations describe the experience of hearing voices that are not really there.

One double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial is designed to examine whether berberine added to current antipsychotic drugs could produce significantly greater efficacy in reducing atypical antipsychotic-induced metabolic syndrome. To achieve this objective, 120 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) who have developed metabolic syndrome will be recruited and randomly assigned to receive additional treatment with placebo (n = 60) or berberine (n = 60, 0.6 g/day, 0.3 g, b.i.d.) for 12 weeks. The primary outcome is changes in net weight gain; other outcomes include body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), fasting glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c).

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjunctive pimavanserin compared with adjunctive placebo in the treatment of schizophrenia

Significant cognitive impairment (executive functions, memory, attention) is common in schizophrenia affecting up to 80% of patients. But pharmacological treatments (typical and atypical antipsychotic) do not have impact on cognitive functioning. For over 20 years, alternative non-pharmacological therapeutics have been developed in schizophrenia. These techniques called cognitive remediation specifically target cognitive deficits. The first cognitive remediation available for patients was designed to stimulate new learning, or relearning, of cognitive tasks, and thus to improve certain deficient domains. These procedures were efficient in improving cognition as measured by neurocognitive tests but their impact on functioning and daily life was weak. In a second time, compensatory remediation has been developed. Compensatory approaches seek to make improvements in the patient's functioning by avoiding areas of impairment and recruiting other intact cognitive domains or by creating a supportive external environment. In recent meta-analysis compensatory remediation has larger effect-size than classical cognitive remediation, with an impact on patients psychosocial functioning. Recently, Dr E. Twamley (University of California) developed and tested a group-based, manualized, compensatory cognitive training intervention. Compensatory cognitive training (CCT) is a low-tech, brief intervention and is easily transposable in community care. Our team translated this method into French. The investigators planned a cost -utility study between CCT and treatment as usual in schizophrenia patients with less than 10 years of evolution.

The present study is a pilot single-blind randomized controlled therapy study. Its aim is to assess the efficacy of an emotion-focussed form of Cognitive behavior Therapy that focusses on emotional processes that are involved in the formation and maintenance of delusions such as emotional stability, emotion regulation and self-esteem.

Metformin has been used for alleviating metabolic abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia. Until now, the lowest dose of metformin to treat metabolic abnormalities in clozapine-treated patients is 1000 mg/d. The aim of this study was to determine whether a lower dosage of metformin, such as 500 mg/d, is effective for improving metabolic profiles in clozapine-treated patients with pre-existing metabolic abnormalities. Methods: In this 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, metformin 500 mg/d or 1000 mg/d or a placebo was prescribed to clozapine-treated patients with schizophrenia having pre-existing metabolic abnormalities. The recruited patients underwent physical and laboratory evaluations at week-4, week-8, and week-12.