Brain Imaging of Cognition Inn Schizophrenia and Depression

The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre

Status

Enrolling

Conditions

Depression / Major Depressive Disorder

Schizophrenia / Schizoaffective Disorder

Treatments

Behavioral: Cognitive Intervention

Behavioral: Active Control Intervention

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04159662

2018037

Details and patient eligibility

About

Schizophrenia and depression are among the most disabling disorders in all of medicine. Cognitive deficits play a key role in patients' disability, affecting their capacity to contribute actively to society by sustaining employment or academic activity. Moreover, cognitive difficulties tend to persist even after the stabilization of other clinical symptoms. Verbal memory and emotion regulation are two important cognitive domains that are impaired in schizophrenia and depression and are associated with patients' functional outcomes. In this study, we are using brain imaging to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying these cognitive deficits in these populations.

Full description

This study uses Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to help us better understand the cognitive problems that people who have schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or depression experience. Cognitive problems can encompass a variety of different domains such as with attention, thinking, memory, emotion, and emotional regulation.

The study will involve three visits at The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research. Each visit will last about 2.5 hours long.

Visits 1 and 2: We ask participants to fill out several questionnaires on a computer. We also ask participants to answer some questions about their current and past mental health. Participants will also perform some tasks involving general thinking skills.

Visit 3: This is the scan visit where we use fMRI, which is a technique that allows us to take a 3D picture of the brain using magnetic fields. It also allows us to estimate how active different regions of the brain are. During the fMRI, participants will lay down in a narrow tube in the fMRI scanner and hold still. Throughout the experiment, participant will perform three short tasks in the scanner, where they will see words and pictures and press a button to answer some questions.

Enrollment

90 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 65 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

age 18-65 years
current Intelligence Quotient (IQ) > 70 as measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI)
the ability to read and speak fluent English
a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective or major depression disorder
stable medication for more than one month

Exclusion criteria

significant neurological or other medical disorders that may produce cognitive impairment
a recent history of substance abuse or dependence (within the past 3 months)
any magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contraindications (e.g. metallic head implant, history of seizure, pacemaker)
decisional incapacity requiring a guardian
taking medications that are rated as Anticholinergic Burden (ACB) Score 3 (severe) or taking benzodiazepines on a daily basis