Status:
COMPLETED
Behavioral Processes Underlying Reward Processing in Depression
Lead Sponsor:
Affective Neuroscience Laboratory
Collaborating Sponsors:
Massachusetts General Hospital
Conditions:
Major Depressive Disorder
Bipolar Disorder
Eligibility:
All Genders
18-64 years
Brief Summary
The purpose of this project is to use behavioral techniques to investigate emotional processing in subjects with major depression and healthy comparison subjects.
Detailed Description
A promising strategy for parsing the heterogeneity of Major Depressive Disorder is to identify phenotypes characterized by reliable functional abnormalities. Anhedonia, the lack of reactivity to pleas...
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion
- Depressed participants:
- Right-handed
- DSM-IV diagnosis of MDD
- Score of at least 17 on the 21-item HAM-D scale
- Absence of any psychotropic medications for at least 2 weeks (6 months for dopaminergic drugs (including methylphenidate), 6 weeks for fluoxetine, and 4 weeks for neuroleptics and benzodiazepines because of longer half-lives.)
- No current or past history of MDD with psychotic features
- Absence of any other Axis I or Axis II diagnosis (Including bipolar disorder and current or lifetime history of alcohol or substance abuse or dependence.) Particularly, subjects with a history of alcoholism and substance abuse will be excluded, since dopaminergic alterations have been reported in these conditions. Exclusion of patients with comorbid Axis I or Axis II diagnoses will be necessary as evidence exists of alteration in dopamine receptor density in detached personality and social phobia. The alteration of dopamine in the brain may in turn alter behavior.
- Absence of significant medical conditions
- Absence of ECT in the previous 6 months
- Ability to provide informed consent/authorization
- Bipolar participants:
- Both genders and all ethnic origins
- Age between 18 and 64
- Right-handed
- DSM-IV diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder I or II
- Score of at least 17 on the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)
- Absence of any psychotropic medications for at least 2 weeks (6 months for dopaminergic drugs (including methylphenidate), 6 weeks for fluoxetine, and 4 weeks for neuroleptics and benzodiazepines because of longer half-lives.)
- No current or past history of MDD with psychotic features
- Absence of any other Axis I or Axis II diagnosis (Including current or lifetime history of alcohol or substance abuse or dependence.) Particularly, subjects with a history of alcoholism and substance abuse will be excluded.
- Absence of significant medical conditions
- Absence of ECT in the previous 6 months
- Ability to provide informed consent/authorization
- Control Participants:
- Right-handed
- Absence of medical, neurological, and psychiatric illness (including alcohol and substance abuse), as assessed by the SCID
- Absence of any medications for at least 2 weeks
- Informed consent/authorization
Exclusion
- Left-handed/ambidextrous
- Evidence of neurological illness
- Current alcohol or substance abuse
- Serious suicide or homicide risk
Key Trial Info
Start Date :
April 1 2004
Trial Type :
OBSERVATIONAL
Allocation :
ACTUAL
End Date :
June 1 2007
Estimated Enrollment :
78 Patients enrolled
Trial Details
Trial ID
NCT00205933
Start Date
April 1 2004
End Date
June 1 2007
Last Update
December 6 2007
Active Locations (2)
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1
The Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
2
Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, 02138