Accelerated Neuromodulation Therapy and Neurocomputational Biomarkers in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis
Recruiting · NCT07786714 · Interventional (participants receive a specific treatment) · Lead sponsor: Douglas Mental Health University Institute
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov →Interventions studied
What this trial is about
The goal of this study is to learn whether an accelerated form of neuromodulation therapy is safe, feasible, and well tolerated in young people at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P), and whether it is associated with changes in candidate biomarkers of treatment response. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either active accelerated intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) or sham stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, delivered over five consecutive days. The study will look at whether this accelerated treatment approach is safe and feasible for people at clinical high risk for psychosis, whether depressive symptoms improve after treatment, and whether computerized behavioural tasks and passive digital monitoring (wearables, smartphone apps, and speech analysis) can detect treatment-related changes that may serve as biomarkers for future, larger trials. Participants will complete clinical interviews and questionnaires, a cognitive battery, and computerized behavioral tasks; wear a Fitbit and use smartphone applications for at least two weeks before and throughout treatment; receive neuromodulation therapy or sham stimulation over five consecutive days; and attend follow-up visits at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after treatment.
Who can take part
Inclusion criteria
- Meets clinical CHR-P criteria, confirmed by the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS)
- Clinical team confirms sufficient stability to participate
- Able to provide informed consent
Exclusion criteria
- Pregnancy, lactation, or intrauterine device
- History of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the past 6 months
- Substance use during the treatment week (cigarettes and cannabis excluded from this consideration)
- Contraindications for TMS (e.g., metal implants in head/neck, seizure history, brain tumor/neurosurgery, severe cardiac disease)
- Previous rTMS treatment
- Documented history of significant intellectual disability
Where it is running
1 location listed.
- McGill Lab for Computational Psychiatry and Translation - Verdun, Quebec, Canada