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Depression clinical trials at UCSF

31 in progress, 19 open to eligible people

Showing trials for
  • Closed Loop, Doctor to Patient, Mobile Application for Depression in People With Multiple Sclerosis

    open to eligible people ages 18-80

    The researchers want to find out if an electronic application called MS CATCH can enhance patients' and doctors' experiences during and in between clinical visits. MS CATCH is a smartphone-based tool which allows patients to enter their mood related symptoms at regular intervals, which is then available to their Neurologist in their electronic medical record. The neurologist is also able to view additional information from their medical record, and receives alerts for changes reported by the patient that raise concern for the patient's mental health.

    San Francisco, California

  • Neuroimaging Study of Open-label Placebo in Depressed Adolescents

    open to eligible people ages 13-18

    Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the current leading cause of disability worldwide and adolescence is an especially vulnerable period for the onset of depression. Non-pharmacologic approaches are particularly attractive as treatment of adolescent depression due to the elevated risks of side effects related to the use of psychotropic drugs during development. A recent meta-analysis detected a positive and significant effect of non-deceptive placebos (open-label placebo, OLP) for a series of clinical conditions, including adult depression. To the investigators' knowledge, no studies of OLP have been conducted in depressed adolescents to date, although placebo response rates in adolescent depression are especially high, accounting for over 80% of the actual response to antidepressant treatment. The study's main objective is to estimate the effectiveness and understand the mechanism of OLP in depressed adolescents. The central hypothesis is that the mechanism by which OLP exerts its action in adolescent depression is by forming a positive expectation, which activates endogenous mu-opioid receptor (MOR)-mediated neurotransmission in a network of regions implicated in emotion, stress regulation, and the pathophysiology of MDD, namely, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) - striato - amygdalo - thalamic network. The hypothesis has been formulated on the basis of published research and preliminary data. The investigators will test the hypothesis by performing structural and functional neuroimaging in 60 untreated 13-18 year-old adolescents with mild to moderate depression. The proposed research is significant, because it is expected to elucidate the mechanism of action of OLP and advance the understanding of the neural underpinnings of positive expectations in adolescent depression.

    San Francisco, California

  • Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up and Depression Treatment

    open to eligible females ages 2 years and up

    Maternal depression influences the development of children's behavior problems and vice versa; however most interventions singularly address maternal depression or children's behavior problems rather than both. This project assesses the efficacy of an intervention that treats both mothers and children in an integrated manner. Effects are expected to disrupt the reciprocal relations that perpetuate maternal and child mental health problems over time.

    San Francisco, California

  • Better Sleep Study

    open to eligible people ages 12-18

    The overall aim of this proposal is a confirmatory efficacy trial sufficiently powered and designed to test the hypothesis that improving the relationship between biological circadian timing and waketime, a novel modifiable target, improves depression outcomes in a subgroup of adolescents with depression and a misaligned relationship between biological circadian timing and waketime utilizing a cognitive-behavioral sleep intervention.

    San Francisco, California

  • Biomarkers of Depression and Treatment Response

    open to eligible people ages 18-70

    This study is a stratified, parallel-group, single-center study utilizing multimodal imaging techniques to identify biomarkers for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The study goal is to identify biomarkers for MDD and treatment response that can be implemented in clinical diagnosis and care as valid and reliable measures, through monitoring neurophysiological and electrophysiological changes across the course of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment.

    San Francisco, California

  • Cellular Aging and Neurobiology of Depression Study

    open to eligible people ages 21-60

    We are conducting an eight week longitudinal study to learn if blood levels of certain naturally occurring compounds and genetic markers differ between patients with depression and healthy adults who are not depressed, and if any such differences relate to memory performance, mood, and neurobiology. We are also interested in how the gut microbiome is affected by antidepressant treatment. We will do this by comparing the unmedicated depressed patients with matched healthy controls at baseline and then following the depressed patients over the course of eight weeks of standardized antidepressant treatment to gauge which baseline abnormalities normalize over the course of treatment.

    San Francisco, California

  • Closed-Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Major Depression

    open to eligible people ages 22-70

    Neurons are specialized types of cells that are responsible for carrying out the functions of the brain. Neurons communicate with electrical signals. In diseases such as major depression this electrical communication can go awry. One way to change brain function is using electrical stimulation to help alter the communication between groups of neurons in the brain. The purpose of this study is to test a personalized approach to brain stimulation as an intervention for depression. The study researchers will use a surgically implanted device to measure each individual's brain activity related to his/her depression. The researchers will then use small electrical impulses to alter that brain activity and measure whether these changes help reduce depression symptoms. This study is intended for patients with major depression whose symptoms have not been adequately treated with currently available therapies. The device used in this study is called the NeuroPace Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS) System. It is currently FDA approved to treat patients with epilepsy. The study will test whether personalized responsive neurostimulation can safely and effectively treat depression.

    San Francisco, California

  • Diet and Depression

    open to eligible people ages 18-70

    This study is a pilot open label crossover trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of reducing ultra- processed foods (UPF) in a personalized manner from the diets of patients with major depressive disorder who eat a large percentage of UPF.

    San Francisco, California

  • Engaging Mothers & Babies; Reimagining Antenatal Care for Everyone (EMBRACE) Study

    open to eligible females

    This is a randomized comparative effectiveness study of two forms of enhanced prenatal care among 2,600 Medi-Cal eligible pregnant women in Fresno, California. The goal is to see whether group prenatal care with wrap around services versus individual prenatal care supplemented by services covered by the California Department of Public Health Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program (CPSP) results in lower rates of preterm birth, less depression and anxiety, and more respectful and greater satisfaction with prenatal care.

    Fresno, California

  • HypErthermia as an Additional Treatment for the Biology and Experience of Depression: Study 2

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    This randomized two-arm intervention trial administers 8 weekly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions and 4 bi-weekly active whole-body hyperthermia (active WBH) sessions or 4 bi-weekly sham WBH sessions to adults aged 18 years or older with major depressive disorder (MDD).

    San Francisco, California

  • Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for Assessment of Depression

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Develop a NIRSIT testing protocol that can be administered in the diagnostic setting and reliably distinguishes the symptoms and severity of depression, with the help of repeated measure (up to five visits per subject) comparison of patients being treated for Major Depressive Disorder with control, non-depressed subjects.

    San Francisco, California

  • Neural Mechanisms of Meditation Training in Healthy and Depressed Adolescents: An MRI Connectome Study PART 2

    open to eligible people ages 14-18

    The primary objective will be to study changes in putamen connectivity and depression severity in depressed teens with meditation training. H1: Putamen node strength will increase in the training group compared to the active controls. H2: This increase in node strength will correlate with practice amount recorded by participants. H3: There will be a significant reduction in self-rated depression symptoms following the training as measured by the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS-2), compared to controls. H4: This reduction will correlate with the increase in putamen node strength. Design and Outcomes: The current research study design will utilize an individually randomized group treatment, open-label, active-controlled clinical trial to test the efficacy and safety of the investigator's innovative mindfulness meditation intervention (Training for Awareness Resilience and Action [TARA]) on the primary outcome (Putamen structural node strength) and secondary outcome (depression symptoms measured using Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale [RADS-2]) in depressed adolescents between the ages of 14 to 18 years old.

    San Francisco, California

  • Perinatal Research on Improving Sleep and Mental Health

    open to eligible females ages 18 years and up

    The goal of this clinical trial is to compare two sleep programs in pregnant people with insomnia. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. What is the efficacy of digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) versus digital sleep hygiene education (SHE) for preventing perinatal depression? 2. Is the effect of digital CBT-I on perinatal depression mediated through prenatal insomnia symptom improvement? 3. Is the effect of digital CBT-I on perinatal depression moderated by baseline depressive symptom severity? Participants will receive one of two sleep programs - SHE or CBT-I. Both involve six weekly online sessions. Participants will complete surveys and interviews until 1 year postpartum.

    San Francisco, California

  • Psilocybin Therapy for Depression in Bipolar II Disorder

    open to eligible people ages 18-70

    The purpose of this study is to determine the safety, tolerability, and feasibility of psilocybin therapy in people with Bipolar II Disorder.

    San Francisco, California

  • Pupillary Unrest as an Indicator of Central Opioid Effect in Subjects 40-60 Years of Age

    open to eligible people ages 40-60

    This study will establish the relationship between magnitude of opioid exposure and a pupillary measure referred to as PUAL (pupillary unrest in ambient light), in subjects aged 40-60. Previous investigation demonstrated that loss of PUAL was a sensitive, discriminative indicator of opioid toxicity and respiratory depression among subjects aged 20-40 years old. Population data indicate that pupil size and PUAL decline slightly with age. The investigators will explore whether PUAL proves to be a sensitive indicator of opioid exposure and respiratory depression in this older group.

    San Francisco, California

  • The Reducing Risk Study

    open to eligible people ages 12-18

    The present study will test an innovative mobile health adaptation of a behavioral intervention that improves sleep and mental health concerns among adolescents.

    San Francisco, California

  • Electrophysiology to Index Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Effects on Reward System Functioning in Depression

    open to eligible people ages 18-65

    Depression is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, conferring substantial healthcare and societal costs. By studying methods to non-invasively target neural circuitry involved in reward responsivity, information generated by this project will improve understanding of the circuit alterations that underlie motivation and pleasure deficits in depression, and could also lead to the development of biologically-based markers of neurostimulation-based treatment response.

    San Francisco, California

  • Reward Processing and Depressive Subtypes: Identifying Neural Biotypes

    open to eligible people ages 18-70

    Deficits in motivation and pleasure are common in depression, and thought to be caused by alterations in the ways in which the brain anticipates, evaluates, and adaptively uses reward-related information. However, reward processing is a complex, multi-circuit phenomenon, and the precise neural mechanisms that contribute to the absence or reduction of pleasure and motivation are not well understood. Variation in the clinical presentation of depression has long been a rule rather than an exception, including individual variation in symptoms, severity, and treatment response. This heterogeneity complicates understanding of depression and thwarts progress toward disease classification and treatment planning. Discovery of depression-specific biomarkers that account for neurobiological variation that presumably underlies distinct clinical manifestations is critical to this larger effort.

    San Francisco, California

  • SKY Breath Intervention

    open to eligible people ages 16-24

    Depression is highly debilitating and prevalent among adolescents. Adolescent-onset depression is associated with long, severe, and recurrent episodes that are often not responsive to treatment. There is a dire need to develop novel treatments that are efficient, cost-effective, and tolerant for this population. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) is a breath-based meditative practice that entails a sequence of specific breathing techniques to help practitioners achieve a state of calm alertness. It has offered benefits as a therapeutic option for mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety disorders and as an adjunctive treatment in patients with major depressive disorder, but the neurological mechanism of SKY breath intervention is still not fully understood. The goal of this study is to determine the efficacy of SKY breath intervention in treating depressed adolescents and to understand its mechanisms. In this study, thirty depressed adolescents and thirty healthy controls will be recruited to evaluate the efficacy of the 8-week SKY intervention. Assessment for depression and anxiety, salivary cortisol, resting heart rate, blood pressure, and neuroimaging will be collected at the baseline, 4 weeks into SKY intervention (questionnaires only), and post-intervention. This will be the first study to evaluate the potential benefits of of SKY breath intervention as a treatment option for depressed adolescents.

    San Francisco, California

  • By Youth, For Youth: Digital Supported Peer Navigation for Addressing Child Mental Health Inequities

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    Black and Latino youth are more likely to experience an unmet mental health or psychosocial need than do their white counterparts. Schools and primary care clinics are ideal hubs to provide mental health, healthcare, social services, and prevention to students and families who otherwise face barriers to care. Using Participatory Design and Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) for app development, mobile technology is designed to optimize access to wellness resources. The proposed intervention is a model of care using technology and navigators for connecting youth ages 13-22 to mental health care and supports. The app is co-created with the community and supported by culturally responsive individuals called family and youth navigators, in schools and primary care clinics. Outcomes are measured using the cascade of care model.

  • Mindfulness in Woman With a History of Child Adversity

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The aim of this pilot Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) is to test whether brief mindfulness-based practices will improve well-being and health in women (age 30-50) with a history of early life adversity. Following a baseline visit (remotely via Zoom), participants are randomized (50% probability) to either a Mindful Activity group or a Mindful Awareness group. In the Mindful Activity group, participants will complete brief (approximately 5-10 min) audio-guided mindfulness practices twice a day (morning and evening) for 8 weeks using the study app. This is followed by a brief survey about their current thoughts and feelings. In the Mindful Awareness group, participants are asked to be mindful (pay attention) to their thoughts and feelings twice a day (morning and evening) for 8 weeks using the study app. After the 8-week intervention period, all participants complete a follow-up visit (remotely). Primary goals of the pilot RCT are to test acceptability, feasibility, and adherence.

    San Francisco, California

  • Ketamine for Veterans With Parkinson's Disease

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is a devastating illness that has a growing impact on Veterans. One of the most disabling symptoms is depression, which is common in PD and linked to poor quality of life and higher risk of suicide. Unfortunately, there is a lack of effective treatments for depression in PD. Ketamine, which has rapid and potent antidepressant effects, is a potential option but has not been tested in Veterans with PD. Studies in rodents show that ketamine may not only improve depression in PD, it may target two of the underlying drivers of the disease: (1) reduced neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to adapt and remodel itself; and (2) elevated inflammation. The investigators are conducting a randomized, placebo-controlled study to examine if a dose of intravenous (IV) ketamine improves depression in Veterans with PD. The investigators will also examine ketamine's effects on neuroplasticity and inflammation, which will help us understand how ketamine works in PD and if it can be a useful treatment for Veterans with the disease. This study will lay groundwork for a larger clinical trial across multiple VA sites.

    San Francisco, California

  • Optimizing Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Maintenance

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) combines meditation practices from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) with cognitive behavioral therapy to improve mental health. Although there is evidence that MBCT provides a variety of mental health benefits, it is particularly designed to prevent depression relapse, which occurs in 80% of people with a history of two episodes of depression. MBCT reduces depression relapse rates by 30%, on average after an eight-week course, and has lower relapse rates than continuing antidepressant medication. However, it is unknown what should be done following the program to optimize its long-term benefit. The investigators plan to conduct a pilot study in preparation for larger-scale clinical trial to determine the most effective maintenance approaches once MBCT has ended. The investigators gathered stakeholder input from MBCT graduates and MBCT teachers to inform the development of maintenance programs for MBCT. From this the investigators formulated several components of a maintenance program for MBCT. This includes providing a booster course for people who have already completed the MBCT program. This will be delivered as a 4-week course, meeting weekly, followed by monthly sessions to help participants build self-efficacy and agency with regard to creating their own plan for relapse prevention. This booster course is adapted from a 12-week program developed by Dr. Willem Kuyken at the Oxford Centre for Mindfulness. The team is planning the following sessions: 1 Deepening mindfulness with a focus on interoceptive awareness. 2) Hedonic system: Appreciating the light within. This would focus on positive emotion. 3) Responding not reacting 4) Two themes: taking care of ourselves, taking care of others. Integrating lessons into daily life with regards to sleep, diet, healthy relationships, behavioral activation. The study will also provide monthly follow-up sessions. The current study is a pilot study aimed at refining the intervention, providing initial data on acceptability and feasibility, and preliminary use of outcome measures in the context of the proposed study design.

    San Francisco, California

  • Psilocybin Therapy for Depression and Anxiety in Parkinson's Disease

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The purpose of this study is to determine the safety, tolerability, and feasibility of psilocybin therapy for depression and anxiety in people with Parkinson's disease.

    San Francisco, California

  • PST in Surgery: Feasibility and Acceptability Pilot

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    The goal of this clinical trial is to test problem solving therapy (PST) in older adults who are undergoing major surgery. The main question it aims to answer is: • What is the feasibility and acceptability of delivering PST to older surgical patients with depressive symptoms or report lacking social support in the pre-operative and post-operative setting?

    San Francisco, California

  • Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Human Emotion Network

    Sorry, accepting new patients by invitation only

    The overall goal of this study is to elucidate how emotion network dynamics relate to the behavioral, autonomic, and experiential changes that accompany emotions and to investigate how emotion network dysfunction relates to affective symptoms. Affective symptoms are a common feature of neuropsychiatric disorders that reflect dysfunction in a distributed brain network that supports emotion. How aberrant functioning in a single emotion network underlies a wide range of affective symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, is not well understood. Anchored by the anterior cingulate cortex and ventral anterior insula, the emotion network responds to numerous affective stimuli. The recording of neural activity directly from the cortical surface from individuals is a promising approach since intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) can provide direct estimates of neuronal populations to map the spatiotemporal dynamics of the emotion network at a millisecond level resolution. This study will exam how activity within emotion network hubs changes during emotions and how emotion network properties make some individuals more vulnerable to affective symptoms than others. A multidisciplinary approach is critical for understanding the dynamic brain network to advance neuroanatomical models of emotions and for guiding the development of novel treatments for affective symptoms.

    San Francisco, California

  • NBI-1065845 in Adults With Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of NBI-1065845 compared with placebo in participants with MDD on improving symptoms of depression.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Supporting Peer Interactions to Expand Access to Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Spanish-speaking Patients

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    Investigators will evaluate the implementation of an evidence-based, Spanish-language, digital, cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention (SilverCloud) in primary care settings for Latino patients with depression and/or anxiety. 426 participants will be enrolled in a two-armed trial comparing self-guided vs. supported dCBT (SilverCloud). At the provider level, investigators will compare the efficacy of provider referrals with the use of a clinic patient registry to identify candidates who could benefit from a digital mental health intervention.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Telepsychology in Spinal Cord Injury

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    This study will determine the effectiveness of tele-psychology in treating persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) with depressed mood in the early period post-rehabilitation discharge. Depression among individuals with SCI is the most common psychological condition following an injury; 22% of civilians with SCI and 28% of veterans with SCI experience depression after injury, which is higher than the able-bodied population (Williams 2015; Ullrich 2014). Individuals with SCI face many barriers in receiving psychotherapy, such as lack of accessible transportation, unfamiliarity with community resources, or stigma associated with seeking treatment for depression, which this project aims to address. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which helps people develop different ways of thinking and behaving to reduce their psychological distress, will be provided via iPad FaceTime by a psychologist with expertise in working with persons with SCI. The objectives of the proposed project are to reduce depressive symptoms, decrease associated symptoms of anxiety, and to improve satisfaction with life with CBT provided via tele-psychology. The secondary objective is to show intermediate efficacy of tele-psychology in persons with SCI with depressed mood.

    San Jose, California

  • Treating Major Depression With Yoga Mono-therapy

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    The goal of this single-center, single-blind, randomized, controlled, parallel group, interventional trial to evaluate antidepressant efficacy of yoga monotherapy of 12-weeks duration in 180 adults meeting diagnostic criteria for mild-to-moderate major depression at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Researchers will compare the yoga interventions to a an education control intervention on holistic healthcare.

    San Francisco, California

  • Characterizing Cognitive Decline in Late Life Depression: The ADNI Depression Project

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The purpose of this research study is to characterize the mechanisms contributing to cognitive impairment and accelerated cognitive decline in Late Life Depression (LLD). This is a non-randomized, observational, non-treatment study. One hundred and twenty (120) subjects who meet criteria for Major Depression or LLD will be enrolled for a period of 30 months. Data from an additional 300 non-depressed subjects will be used from ADNI studies for comparison. Depression history, symptom severity and health information will be collected at the initial psychiatric visit to determine eligibility. A 3 Tesla (3T) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and florbetapir (18F-AV-45) amyloid imaging will be conducted at the ADNI clinic site visits. Collection of plasma and serum for biomarkers, clinical assessments and cognitive assessments will be conducted at two time points. Blood samples will also be collected for genetic analysis.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

Our lead scientists for Depression research studies include .

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