Behavioral Processes Underlying Reward Processing in Depression

Affective Neuroscience Laboratory2 sites in 1 country78 target enrollmentApril 2004

ConditionsMajor Depressive Disorder Bipolar Disorder

Overview

Phase: Not Applicable
Intervention: Not specified
Conditions: Major Depressive Disorder
Sponsor: Affective Neuroscience Laboratory
Enrollment: 78
Locations: 2
Status: Completed
Last Updated: 18 years ago

Overview Investigators Eligibility Criteria Outcomes Sites Similar Trials

Overview

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 pleasurable stimuli, is considered a trait marker for depression. Using an objective behavioral task this project aims to investigate hedonic capacity in subjects meeting a DSM-IV diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder.

Registry

clinicaltrials.gov

Start Date

April 2004

End Date

June 2007

Last Updated

18 years ago

Study Type

Observational

Sex

All

Investigators

Sponsor

Affective Neuroscience Laboratory

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

•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