Anxiety & Depression Association of America

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate whether Behavioral Activation for depression delivered via home based telehealth (BA-HT) is effective in improving social and role functioning in Veterans recently discharged from Cardiovascular disease (CVD-related) inpatient care. Eligible participants will receive either (1) twelve sessions of BA-HT or (2) standard best practices post CVD hospitalization care. Study participants will be 132 Veterans discharged from the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center inpatient care facilities with CVD diagnoses corresponding to ICD 10 codes I20-I25 (120 unstable angina, stable angina; 121 NSTEMI, STEMI, initial encounter; 122 NSTEMI, STEMI, subsequent encounter; 124 acute coronary syndrome; 125 coronary arteriosclerosis with angina). They will be male or female, age 21 and above, and with approximately 40-50% minority representation. There will be assessment at baseline, 1 week post treatment, as well as 3 and 9-months post treatment. The investigators predict that BA-HT will more effectively increase social role and activity functioning, activity, mood and reduce 9-month re-hospitalization compared to current best-practices post-discharge care among patients scoring at least moderately depressed on the PROMIS Depression scale one week following hospital discharge for a CVD event.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2022

open study

Background: Mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder, can have serious effects on a person s life. People with bipolar disorder are more likely to have heart disease and abuse substances. In this natural history study, researchers would like to learn more about the connection between exercise and mental health in people with and without mood disorders. Objective: To better understand relationships among physical activity, sleep, and mental health. Eligibility: People aged 8 to 60 years with a history of a mood disorder. Healthy spouses and relatives with no mood disorders are also needed. Design: Participants will be in the study up to 2 years. For up to 20 days in a row, at 4 times during the study, participants will: Complete an electronic diary on their smartphone. Participants will answer questions about their mood, health, sleep, and daily activities. Wear an activity monitor, like a wristwatch, that records how much they move. Wear a light sensor, as a necklace, to record the amount of light in their environment. Some participants will do additional tests. Twice during the study, for 3 days in a row, they will: Wear monitors to record their temperature, heart rate, and sleep. Provide saliva samples. Complete cognitive tasks on their smartphone. Participants will visit the NIH clinic 2 times. They will have a physical exam, with blood and urine tests. They will wear a heart monitor. They will ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes. They may have an imaging scan. Some participants will stay overnight. They will go to sleep wearing a cap to measure their brain activity.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Nov 2023

open study

The sequential trial compares recovery and mHealth engagement outcomes among Black participants who participated in the mHealth intervention uMAT-R or uMAT-R + enhanced community engagement. The mHealth intervention seeks to support people in various stages of recovery who are also seeking other forms of substance use treatment. Participants are recruited from community-based substance use treatment facilities and recovery services. Participants must be adults who have or are currently using opioids and/or stimulants.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2025

open study

This is a pilot feasibility study examining the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) in adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The study evaluates whether brief, non-interactive VR sessions delivered using a commercially available standalone head-mounted display with calming, nature-based content can be delivered safely and effectively within routine SICU workflow. Exploratory objectives assess whether VR sessions are associated with changes in anxiety, agitation, delirium, pain, and sedative medication requirements. This research is not intended to evaluate the safety or effectiveness of the headset and/or the specific VR software used for the research

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2026

open study

In this study, we will conduct a pilot RCT of a yoga-based intervention (YBI) vs. group cognitive-behavioral therapy (gCBT) at two sites. We will recruit 48 adolescent participants each in Columbus, OH and Boston, MA (96 total). We have a priori targets for indices of feasibility and acceptability, including recruitment rate, retention for assessments, class attendance, interventionist fidelity to manuals, and participant satisfaction. We hypothesize that we will meet these metrics at both sites.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2026

open study

A case series of PBA intervention for anxiety problems.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2026

open study

With this research investigators hope to begin to understand how rTMS can improve posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. TMS improves PTSD through two interrelated mechanisms: change in brain limbic system function and change in systemic inflammatory activation. Participants who decide to join this study, will receive ten rTMS treatments. All participants will undergo a 40-minute rTMS procedure with a member of the study team 10 times over 2-4 weeks. Participants will undergo fMRI scans of the head in order to help researchers better understand potential effects of rTMS on brain activity. In addition, participants will be asked to give two breath and blood samples to look for signs of general inflammation.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2026

open study

The NEXT Study is a randomized controlled pilot examining the feasibility and acceptability of a revised perinatal PTSD protocol. This study will randomize perinatal participants with PTSD to receive NET (n=45); treatment group) and will be compared to perinatal women randomized to usual care (n=45; comparator group). The overall objective of this project is to determine the most feasible and acceptable protocol for a brief virtual perinatal PTSD intervention.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2025

open study

This Phase II trial will examine engagement in telehealth for children undergoing psychotherapy. Specifically, the trial will examine patient engagement in Teleo, a virtual therapy platform specifically designed for psychotherapy with youth, as compared to standard video conferencing.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2026

open study

This pilot study evaluates the feasibility, safety, and preliminary efficacy of home-based 60Hz intermittent light therapy in adults with a major depressive episode (MDE). Participants will be randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either active or sham 60Hz intermittent light stimulation for 30 minutes daily (Monday through Friday) over three weeks. The light is delivered through a wearable headset. Clinical assessments will be conducted remotely at baseline, mid-point, post-treatment, and follow-up to measure changes in depressive symptoms.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2025

open study

The goal of this study is to learn how psilocybin delivered with mindfulness-based therapy may help symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is an assessor-blinded, randomized, controlled study in participants with PTSD. The study will investigate the changes in brain activity, connectivity, and microstructural neuroplasticity assessed using EEG/EMG and multimodal MRI measures after administration of one oral dose of psilocybin, accompanied either with standard "psychological support" only; or with standard support plus Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2026

open study

Following adolescent concussion, poor sleep health is common and relates to the development of persisting post-concussion symptoms, and uninjured adolescents (independent of concussion) also commonly experience sleep insufficiency. Given the sparse guidance that exists for clinicians to provide evidence-based sleep health recommendations for adolescents with a concussion, the primary objectives of this prospective randomized clinical trial of adolescents with a recent concussion are to discover if a multidimensional and prescriptive sleep health intervention leads to: 1) faster symptom resolution time, better sleep quality, or longer sleep duration; and 2) improved sleep habits, mental health, or academic engagement, relative to standard-of-care post-concussion sleep health guidance. Findings from this research will provide the basis for more precise sleep health recommendations for adolescents who experience a concussion.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2025

open study

The goal of this pilot study is to test the effectiveness of a novel intervention for young adults (ages 18-27) with mental health conditions who have been released from an acute care psychiatric facility. The intervention aims to reduce suicidality, depression, anxiety, re-hospitalization, and improve mental health recovery by using outpatient services. The current standard of care (SOC) for these patients at discharge includes a discharge plan with a list of their medications, anticipated outpatient appointments, and information on when and where to find community resources. The intervention being tested involves the implementation of a mental health recovery education and support program, involving one-on-one and small group meetings led by Peer Support Specialists (PSS) and Recovery Community Organizations (RCO). Participants will be assigned to either Cohort A or B for 8 weeks. Cohort A will be the intervention group with PSS and RCOs. - Weeks 1-4: One-on-one meetings with PSS for education and support. Assessments will be completed at weeks 2 and 4. - Weeks 5 and 7: One-on-one meetings with PSS for education and support. - Week 6 and 8: Group meetings with PSS and other participants from RCOs. Assessments will be completed during these weeks. Cohort B will be the SOC group with no PSS or RCOs. - Weeks 1-4: Weekly check in phone calls with a member of the research team. Assessments will be completed at weeks 2 and 4. - Weeks 5-8: Check in phone calls with a member of the research team every other week. Assessments will be completed at weeks 6 and 8. Data collected from participant assessments, adherence to medication, and re-admittance to a psychiatric facility will be used to compare the intervention to the SOC.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2025

open study

This pilot randomized controlled trial will examine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an adolescent depression prevention program, Brief Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (B-IPT-AST), in primary care.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2025

open study

The goal of this study is to establish the feasibility, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of sleep-state transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for enhancing plasticity in depression treatment.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2025

open study

Animal assisted therapy (AAT) with dogs has been shown to be beneficial for a wide range of patients with both acute and chronic illnesses, including spinal cord injuries, heart failure, myocardial infarctions, strokes, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. Studies have also demonstrated that even in healthy adults, the presence of dogs is associated with physiologic changes such as increased pain threshold, decreased blood pressure, and decreased heart rate. However, few studies have investigated the role of AAT in the post-operative course in adults. This study will investigate the impact of therapy dog visits on pain and anxiety scores for trauma patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2025

open study

This study is to determine if suvorexant (SUV) will reduce insomnia in 76 men and women veteran and non-veterans between the ages 21-65 with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol use disorder (AUD). All participants will have a 7-day placebo run-in period, followed by a random assignment to receive placebo or suvorexant for an additonal 14 days. Post-randomization, participants will attempt to stop drinking for two weeks and will complete daily virtual diaries and study outcome assessments via in-person clinic visits on days 7 and 14.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2025

open study

The goal of this phase 1 study is to investigate the safety and efficacy of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in individuals with depression and healthy controls. We hypothesize that administration of DMT will result in decreases in depression, associated symptoms, and neuroplastic changes in depressed subjects. We expect that DMT will induce changes in neuroplasticity as indexed using electroencephalographic (EEG) measures and tasks in both depressed individuals and healthy volunteers, though to different degrees. These neuronal changes may in parallel cause changes in mood measured both in healthy and depressed subjects, which will be captured using appropriate psychometric measures of mood.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2025

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of bilateral stimulation of the subcallosal cingulate white matter (SCCwm) using Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as an adjunctive treatment of non-psychotic unipolar Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in adults.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2024

open study

To learn about the feasibility, safety, and effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on depression and/or anxiety in participants who are being treated for advanced cancer.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2024

open study

This study is funded by the HEAL Initiative (https://heal.nih.gov/). Based on Preliminary Studies (PSs), the research team developed and pilot-tested an evidence-based Web App-based information and coaching/support program for cancer pain management (CAPA) that was culturally tailored to Asian American breast cancer survivors using multiple unique features. However, CAPA rarely considered depressive symptoms accompanying pain in its design or components, and PSs indicated the necessity of further individualization of the intervention components of CAPA due to diversities in the needs of ABD. The purpose of the proposed 2-phase study is to further develop CAPA with additional components for ABD and the individual optimization functionality (CAI) and to test the efficacy of CAI in improving cancer pain experience of ABD. The specific aims are to: a) develop and evaluate CAI through an expert review and a usability test (R61 phase); b) determine whether the intervention group (that uses CAI and usual care) will show significantly greater improvements than the active control group (that uses CAPA and usual care) in primary outcomes (cancer pain management and cancer pain experience including depressive symptoms) from baseline to post 1-month and post 3-months; c) identify theory-based variables (attitudes, self-efficacy, perceived barriers, and social influences) that mediate the intervention effects of CAI on the primary outcomes; and d) determine whether the effects of CAI on the primary outcomes are moderated by selected background, disease, genetic, and situational factors. This study is guided by the Bandura's Theory and the stress and coping framework by Lazarus and Folkman. The R61 phase includes: (a) the intervention development process, (b) a usability test among 15 ABD, 15 family members, and 15 community gatekeepers; and (c) an expert review among 10 experts in oncology. The R33 phase adopts a randomized repeated measures control group design among 300 ABD. Long-term goals are: (a) to extend and test CAI in various healthcare settings with diverse subgroups of ABD, (b) examine the costeffectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of CAI in the settings, and (c) translate CAI into health care for ABD.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2024

open study

This research study aims to develop a brief group-based treatment called Resilience Training for Teens, then to test how well it protects high school students with mild symptoms of depression, anxiety, or having unusual feelings from developing mental illnesses.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2024

open study

The goal of this study is to understand why some people act more impulsively when feeling negative emotions, which is called negative urgency. The researchers hope to understand how negative urgency relates to the way networks of brain cells communicate with one another. The researchers will measure negative urgency and brain signals in adolescents aged 13-21 years with depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Whether a type of brain signaling called cortical inhibition is related to negative urgency - Whether depressed adolescents with suicidal behavior have more problems with cortical inhibition than depressed adolescents with suicidal thoughts only - Whether the relationship between negative urgency and cortical inhibition changes over time Adolescents who participate in the study will complete the following activities at the time they join the study, as well as 6 months and 12 months later: - Interviews with researchers and questionnaires to learn about their thoughts, emotions, and symptoms - A questionnaire about impulsive behaviors and negative urgency - Computerized games that measure brain functions - An MRI scan of the brain - Transcranial magnetic stimulation with electroencephalography (TMS-EEG), a way to measure how brain cells communicate (cortical inhibition) using a magnet placed outside of the head and recording brain signals

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2024

open study

Patients, physicians, and those who fund depression research are keenly interested in depression treatments that do not involve taking medications. One promising candidate treatment is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a low-cost technique that involves placing electrodes on specific scalp locations and using a 9-volt battery to cause a small amount of electricity to pass through parts of the brain. Depending on the direction of electrical flow, tDCS can make brain cells (neurons) more likely or less likely to generate their own electrical signals. When evaluated as a treatment, tDCS is typically done in daily sessions over a period of two weeks. One of the challenges of tDCS is to work out the best possible positioning of electrodes and direction of electricity flow to gradually cause lasting changes in brain activity in ways that might be expected to improve depression. To address this challenge, the investigators are using MRI to take pictures of the brain during tDCS. This data will help us better understand the short-term effects of tDCS in depression and help us learn how to customize future treatments to cause a lasting beneficial response. Patients with depression between the ages of 20-55 years are eligible to take part in this research. Potential participants will undergo: 1. An assessment to confirm eligibility. This will take place over a secure videoconference call lasting no more than 3 hours. 2. Two in-person study visits lasting 30 min and 2-1/2 hours respectively. In the first visit, the investigators will use the MRI to take a picture of the brain and head structure to determine appropriate locations for placing the tDCS electrodes at the start of the second visit. Following electrode placement, an MRI scan will be performed to take pictures of the brain during tDCS. Depending on the study arm, 1. Participants may receive 'active' or 'sham' tDCS. The 'sham' condition is identical to the 'active' tDCS in every way except that it involves minimal tDCS and is designed to help rule out effects unrelated to the administered tDCS electricity. 2. Participants may also be asked to perform a mental task during MRI.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2022

open study

A prospective randomized trial measuring physiologic biometrics and perceptions of stress during a pediatric dental exam, cleaning, and simulated radiographs with or without a therapy dog present.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2023

open study