Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

Electro convulsive therapy (ECT) remains the only established therapy for the large percentage of patients with depression who fail to respond to standard treatments. It is commonly used but has substantial problems including the occurrence of cognitive side effects that are often highly distressing for patients. The development of a new treatment with similar efficacy but which minimises these side effects would have great clinical value. One highly promising possibility is magnetic seizure therapy (MST). MST involves replacing the electrical stimulation used in ECT with a magnetic stimulus. This appears to be able to produce similar clinical effects but without the disabling cognitive side effects related to ECT. However, substantive trials using the newest MST equipment are required. Due to the rarity of the equipment available so far, these are only being undertaken in a handful of places internationally and no research with MST has occurred in Australia. The investigators are fortunate to have been able to obtain one of the very limited number of MST devices available internationally and are proposing a pilot study of this technique. Conduct of a successful pilot study would be strong justification for an application for a large head-to-head MST - ECT comparison trial. Should MST be shown to have similar efficacy to ECT but with reduced side-effects, it is envisioned that it could rapidly replace ECT in clinical practice throughout Australia and indeed internationally with substantial ongoing benefits to patients. These would include enhanced use of it as an outpatient therapy as well as the reduction in side-effects. The study will be an open label trial of MST in 15 patients with treatment resistant depression who have been referred for ECT. All patients will undergo a dose titration procedure to establish seizure threshold, six MST treatment sessions will then be provided at 120% of threshold. If the patients have not achieved a 50% reduction in their depressive symptoms (as measured by the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale rating scale) patients will receive another 12 sessions. MST will be administered three times a week. Patients will undergo a series of assessments to determine both the efficacy of MST and the cognitive outcomes. The primary outcome measure will be the MADRS measure of depression severity. The investigators will additionally measure patient rated depression severity and cognitive functioning The overall aim of the current project is to, via an open label pilot trial, investigate the clinical response to magnetic seizure therapy in patients with treatment resistant depression who have been referred for electroconvulsive therapy.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment, contingency management, in reducing stimulant use in persons with serious mental illness.

The purpose of this study is to test a new drug, RG2417, to see how the drug affects symptoms of bipolar I depression and to make sure it is safe in humans.

The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of CX157 60 mg administered three times a day (180 mg daily dose) as compared to placebo in subjects with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Secondary objectives are to evaluate the safety and tolerability and steady state pharmacokinetic profile of CX157 in these subjects.

Depression affects over one million people in Canada, resulting in $14.4 billion per year in costs to Canadian society. In order to prevent this often lifelong disorder, it is critically important to identify risk factors for the recurrence of depression. A crucial force in maintaining depression is the generation of stressful life events. That is, individuals who have a history of depression are likely to generate the very events that precipitate future depressive episodes (e.g., relationship break-up, fired from job, conflicts with the law) due to negative personality characteristics and disrupted social support networks resulting from previous episodes. This project is the first to test a model that examines the role of negative personality, low social support, and childhood abuse and neglect as risk factors for the generation of stressful life events that predict future depression. We will test this model in a group of patients meeting formal criteria for depression who will be treated and then followed up for 12 months or until depression recurrence. With this long-term design we will be in a unique position to understand how depression is maintained over time, thus suggesting important treatment strategies to prevent depression recurrence.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a reduced dose of aripiprazole is effective in treating patients with major depressive disorder

The present study is a randomized, controlled trial that compares Behavioral Activation (BA) to Treatment As Usual (TAU) in PTSD Specialty clinics, as early psychotherapeutic interventions for OIF/OEF veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The primary purpose of this study is to compare the antidepressant efficacy and safety of two doses of DVS SR (25 and 50 mg/day) in the treatment of adults with Major Depressive Disorder. The study will also assess changes in sexual function and general and functional quality of life outcomes.

The investigators examined the therapeutic efficacy of neurofeedback in depression subjects. The investigators hypothesize that 5 weeks neurofeedback training will be able to alleviate depressive symptoms.

The aim of this study is to evaluate an interpersonally-focused intervention (Interpersonal Psychotherapy) for women with co-occurring alcohol dependence and depression. A sub-protocol has been added to pilot the current study with men with co-occurring alcohol dependence and depression.