A Study of Schizophrenia and the Brain: A Six-month Inpatient Evaluation Study

Adults: Schizophrenia

Join a Research Study: Enrolling nationally from around the country
A Study of Schizophrenia and the Brain: A Six-month Inpatient Evaluation Study

Have you been diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder? Are you between 18 and 55 years of age? Would you be willing to live at the Clinical Center on the NIH campus for six months? If so, you may be eligible to participate in a study designed to understand the neurological basis of schizophrenia and to determine which symptoms are related to the illness and which are related to the medications used to treat the illness.

This six-month study has three phases: In the first phase you will participate in many comprehensive medical, neurological, cognitive, and psychiatric evaluations. In the second phase, the research phase, you will be tapered off of your medication for about 4 weeks. In the time that your medication is discontinued, research procedures will allow investigators to distinguish the effects of the illness on the brain without the interference of the medication’s effects. In the third phase, you will have the opportunity to stabilize using the treatment selected to be most helpful to you.

To find out if you qualify,email NIMH or call 1-301-435-8970 (1-888-674-6464) [TTY: 1-866-411-1010].

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/labs-at-nimh/join-a-study/adults/adults-schizophrenia.shtml

wow! six months? thats like a prison term! whats the compensation for this study? hows the food?

Thanks for posting this. I like the idea of this study, but I don’t think it is a fair comparison… The people in the “no meds” period will suffer from withdrawal effects and lasting effects of the medication. The times off meds, in the 4 weeks after withdrawal, I still suffered from severe withdrawal symptoms and also a lasting emotional blunting and cognitive problems. Sometimes I cleared up quicker, but sometimes only after a longer period I started to stabilize and regain my happiness and motivation. I wish they would do a fair comparison… for example a medication naive group vs a medication group and for a longer period of time. Only then you can see a fair comparison.