Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers a cheap and reliable tool to investigate prefrontal brain activation in the healthy and diseased human brain. As such, fNIRS bears great potential as a diagnostic tool for clinical practice. Research indicates that fNIRS, together with a relatively simple task to activate the prefrontal cortex, the so-called verbal fluency task (VFT), elucidates prefrontal dysfunction in major depressive disorder (MDD). This finding can potentially serve as an imaging marker for disease pathology, even when depressive symptoms are absent. Indeed, recent research also suggests prefrontal dysfunction in fully remitted MDD (rMDD). Prefrontal haemodynamic responses may therefore serve as a trait marker for MDD vulnerability. This study aims to investigate the haemodynamic response in rMDD, healthy participants with increased MDD risk (HCr; having a 1st-degree relative with MDD), and low-risk healthy participants (HCnr; having no 1st-degree relatives with MDD) using fNIRS. The investigators hypothesize lower prefrontal reactivity in HCr compared to HCnr, and lowest prefrontal reactivity in rMDD compared to HCnr. This study has the potential to elucidate the neuronal underpinnings of depression vulnerability in the absence of symptoms that are sometimes considered a confounding factor when it comes to studying the biological encoding of depression.

Severe uterine contractions in labor can trigger emotional disorders including postpartum depression in women during the puerperium. Numerous studies have shown that resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry is closely related to depression. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize that the frontal alpha asymmetry in EEG during uterine contractions in the first stage of labor be associated with the risk level of postpartum depression. The objective of this research is to investigate, in a 1-year period, the incidence of postpartum depression in natural birth mothers in relation to frontal alpha asymmetry in EEG during uterine contractions and resting state.

This study aims to determine the predictors of depression among university students in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Sungai Long Campus.

This is an observational study that will be conducted on pregnant women under vaginal delivery or cesarean section. The magnesium sulfate will be given to appropriate participants with a protocol that obstetrician are already using in our hospital. After delivery, participants are asked to answer sequential questionnaires to assess postpartum depression.

Suicide accounts for at least 1 million deaths globally each year. This is likely a significant underestimate, because suicide is under-reported in many countries. In the US, over 42,000 people die from suicide annually. Despite increased focus on identification and treatment, the rate of suicide has increased steadily over the past 15 years. Our project aims both to improve our understanding of factors that increase the risk for suicide by comparing blood biomarkers associated with inflammation in patients with depression without suicidal behavior and patients with depression and suicidal behavior. The 160 individuals in this study will be followed with psychiatric assessments and blood samples at repeated time points over one year.

Since capability for suicide involves overriding potential pain, and the opioid system plays a strong role in controlling pain perception, it follows that capability for suicide may be impacted by the opioid system. The goal of the proposed research is to identify the neural network underlying capability for suicide in order to determine if it can be a target for identifying high-risk individuals and for intervention.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how the brain changes in patients undergoing electroconvulsive (ECT) treatment for depression. Subjects will be invited to be in this study because (1) they are a patient about to receive ECT treatment for depression, or (2) they are a patient diagnosed with depression and do not qualify for ECT treatment, or (3) they are a healthy adult volunteer with no history of depression. All volunteers must be between the ages of 18-85. Participation in this research will involve three visits. Each visit will last about 3-4 hours. If the subject is a patient receiving ECT for depression the study team will schedule study visits to go along with patient treatment visits. If the subject is diagnosed with depression (not treatment-resistant depression) or are a healthy volunteer, their first visit will be scheduled at their convenience, followed by a second visit 1-3 months post visit one and a third visit 1-2 months post visit two, for a total of three research visits. Participation in this research will involve playing simple computer games while the subject's brain is scanned with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Additionally, the study team will assess symptoms of depression using questionnaires. Patients receiving ECT will not experience any changes to their standard of care ECT treatment plan. Healthy and non-treatment resistant depressed volunteers will not undergo ECT treatment.

TRAIT is an open-label observational study to evaluate treatment response to selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) among individuals meeting criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and seeking enrollment in investigational trials.

Severe childhood adversity accounts for a large portion of psychiatric illness, and an increased risk for major depressive disorder (MDD). For some individuals, childhood adversity has negative psychological and medical consequences; others preserve mental and physical health despite such experiences (they are resilient). In spite of this, little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms related to childhood adversity, especially oxidative stress abnormalities in the brain. To fill this gap, this study combines functional, structural, and molecular imaging approaches to examine the role of oxidative stress abnormalities related to childhood adversity.

This is a prospective, multisite (but all within the UTSW IRB), observational study assessing the relationship of hope to anxiety and depression, QoL, and social support over time in the first year after cancer diagnosis or relapse in AYA (ages 15-29 years of age).