Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety of risperidone treatment in patients who are overweight and/or obese.

Purpose of this non-interventional study (NIS) is to assess the effect of the participation in an integrated care program on treatment outcomes in patients treated with Seroquel for schizophrenia.

Many patients who have recently received a diagnosis of schizophrenia (e.g., "first-episode schizophrenia") respond very well to their antipsychotic medication when they are acutely ill. Once they are more stable, research has shown that first-episode patients need to remain on their antipsychotic medication. Follow-up studies show that stopping medication prematurely is the most common cause of relapse and readmission. It is important to have new ways to help patients stay stable in the community in order for them to continue on with their rehabilitation and recovery process. Over the last decade, new antipsychotic medications have been developed that are more effective and have fewer side effects than older antipsychotics. The new medicines are often called "atypical", and were only available by pill or capsule for long-term treatment. Most recently, one of the atypical medications - risperidone - became available as a long-acting injection that can be given once every 2 weeks. The hypothesis of this study is that patients recovering from an acute episode and who then go on to receive a long-acting version of atypical antipsychotic medication (long-acting risperidone microspheres) will stay on their medications for longer than those who take their atypical medication (any available first-line atypical) in the oral (pill) form.

The study is a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, parallel-group study with first episode schizophrenic patients. During a treatment phase of 8 weeks the patients are treated with Risperidone or Haloperidol. Aim of the project is to compare the effects of the atypical neuroleptic Risperidone with those of the conventional neuroleptic Haloperidol and to evaluate whether the assumed advantages of atypical neuroleptics compared to conventional neuroleptics are also present when both medications are administered in rather low daily dosages (min. 2 mg/d; max. 8 mg/d).

A study of children and adolescents (current N=100) with very early onset by age 12 (COS) of DSM-III-R defined schizophrenia with (97-M-0126) is examining the clinical, neurobiological, early neurodevelopmental, genetic, and clinical drug response characteristics of these cases. Earlier studies have documented the continuity between COS and adult onset cases (See Jacobsen and Rapoport, 1998 for review). The focus has now shifted to increasing the sample size and evaluation of familial risk factors including: psychiatric diagnoses of family members; smooth pursuit eye movements; neuropsychological tests deficits, and obtaining blood for cell lines for genetic studies (family members only, this is also covered under 96-M-0060, Dr. Ellen Sidransky). A study of obstetrical records of COS probands indicated no increase in adverse pre or perinatal events for these cases compared with obstetrical records of their siblings (Nicolson et al submitted). In contrast, several findings point to increased risk for these probands. To date, a total of 5 (10.4%) COS subjects were found to have previously unknown cytogenetic abnormalities (Microdeletion of 22q11 (3 cases), (Usiskin et al, submitted), Mosaic 45X0 (one case) (Kumra et al, 1998) and balanced 1:7 translocation (Gordon et al 1994). The study of first degree relatives of these very rare cases addresses the hypothesis that risk factors, most probably genetic, are increased in immediate family members relative both to community controls and to the relatives of patients with chronic, treatment resistant, adult-onset schizophrenia (AOS). A second hypothesis is that COS familial risk factors show significant relationship to the developmental delays/abnormalities being observed in the COS probands. As a total of 50 additional COS subjects will be studied over the next 5 years, the pediatric control sample for the probands will also be increased, determined by the need to have concurrent measures for patients and controls to maintain measurement validity. Thus a total of 600 additional subjects are to be studied including 50 controls for COS probands, 150 COS relatives, 150 controls for COS relatives, and 250 relatives of adult onset schizophrenics (AOS).

Based on our research background, we hypothesize that LIFUS has neuromodulation effects on brain cortex and the active LIFUS on left-DLPFC would improve negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients. It would firstly verify the safety of LIFUS on human as well. The multimodal MRI will be contributed to investigate the possible mechanism of negative symptoms.

The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of a short term compensatory cognitive group intervention - the Compensatory Cognitive Training (CCT) among people with severe mental illnesses, receiving ambulatory treatment

This study aimed to investigate the effects of lifestyle redesign program plus treatment as usual versus treatment as usual on cognition, psychiatric symptoms, quality of life, and occupational engagement for schizophrenia.

This research compares the relative efficacy of two empirically-supported, standardized programs of cognitive remediation for treatment of cognitive deficits and community function in schizophrenia to help inform best practices. The proposed study advances public health by developing and evaluating new behavioral techniques for improving psychosocial outcome in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Negative symptoms (e.g. diminished pleasure and motivation) are common in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Little is known about the psychological mechanisms involved in negative symptom development and maintenance and there is limited evidence for current treatment options. Some research suggests that difficulties with metacognition; the capacity to develop and use complex ideas about oneself and others, may predict experiences of negative symptoms. This study will investigate whether Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) improves metacognition in people experiencing negative symptoms, and if metacognitive changes lead to observable differences in behavioural manifestations of negative symptoms (e.g. low activity levels). Data will be collected via standardised assessments of metacognition and negative symptoms. Activity levels will be measured with actigraphy, which has been shown to capture differential activity patterns for individuals who experience negative symptoms compared to control groups. An assessment will also be made of whether improvements in specific aspects of metacognition (e.g. self-reflectivity) relate to changes in individual negative symptoms, such as motivation levels, and other markers of personal change, including personal and social performance, insight, and beliefs about recovery. Additionally, factors that may have impacted on the study results, such as therapist adherence to the treatment, will be reported. Eligible patients with capacity to consent will be recruited from the inpatient rehabilitation psychology services in National Health Service (NHS) Greater Glasgow and Clyde. They will be aged 18 or over, have a schizophrenia spectrum disorder diagnosis, and experience current negative symptoms. The target sample size is up to 8 patients. Participants will be measured at baseline and will receive up to 26 sessions of the MERIT treatment approach. Any therapeutic change will be observed via changes from assessments at baseline to the assessments in the initial, middle and last therapy sessions, and also metacognitive assessments at two other randomly selected time-points during therapy.