Schizophrenia / Schizoaffective Disorder

FEEL-GOOD is a prospective multi-site single-blinded randomized controlled trial in young inpatients with acute early psychosis. Participants are randomized 1:1 to FEEL-GOOD plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone. The intervention consists of one individual preparatory session and eight modularized group sessions delivered over four weeks involving four to eight participants at each session and including practice and homework tasks. Outcomes are assessed at baseline, 4 weeks post-intervention, and 6 months follow-up, with the primary outcome being observer-rated total psychopathology as measured with the assessed by the total score of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) post-treatment (4 weeks post baseline).

This study is the first phase of the research project. The purpose of this phase is to develop and refine a narrative-based intervention designed to reduce self-stigma among people with schizophrenia. A small pilot study will be conducted with 24 participants recruited from halfway houses in northern Taiwan. Eligible participants will receive the intervention, which consists of four group sessions and four individual sessions, held once a week for a total of eight weeks. The program uses narrative therapy techniques to help participants explore their personal experiences and reduce self-stigma. Participants will complete a workbook during the program, and the written content will be analyzed to better understand their experiences with stigma. Any personal information will be removed to protect participants' privacy. Before and after the intervention, participants will complete questionnaires on self-stigma, depression, social functioning, well-being, hope, and recovery. Information on medication use will also be collected. Group and individual sessions will be audio-recorded for research purposes. The questionnaire data and recordings will be used to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effects of the intervention.

Patients with schizophrenia receiving long-term antipsychotic therapy are at increased risk of chronic low-grade inflammation and metabolic disturbances, which contribute to poor physical health outcomes and increased cardiovascular morbidity. Structured Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT), consisting of individualized nutrition assessment, dietary intervention, nutrition education, and regular monitoring, has the potential to improve dietary quality and modulate systemic inflammation. This study aims to evaluate the effect of Structured Medical Nutrition Therapy on the Systemic Inflammation Index (SII), a novel inflammatory biomarker derived from neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts, in patients with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotic therapy. It is hypothesized that patients receiving structured MNT will demonstrate a greater reduction in SII compared with those receiving standard nutritional care, supporting the integration of evidence-based nutritional interventions into the comprehensive management of schizophrenia to improve metabolic and inflammatory outcomes.

The goal of this study is to develop and test the impact of a smartphone-based working memory cognitive training digital therapeutic for individuals with schizophrenia or a related disorder.

Schizophrenia Spectrum disorders (SSD) are among the most devastating psychiatric disorders. Prominent negative symptoms such as low motivation, anhedonia, asociality, and emotional flattening are experienced by up to 60% of individuals with SSD and are often considered to be the greatest contributors to functional disability. Currently, there are no FDA-approved or cleared medications or therapeutics targeting negative symptoms of schizophrenia. In this phase I proposal, North Shore Therapeutics (NST) is collaborating with the Feinstein Institutes of Medical Research (FIMR; Northwell Health) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) to develop a novel augmented reality (AR) therapeutic (NST-SPARK) targeting negative symptoms in individuals with SSD. NST-SPARK is a smartphone application that delivers Recovery-oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) via gamified AR experiences to provide experiential learning that dismantles maladaptive beliefs. Preliminary findings suggest that this approach is feasible, acceptable, and may reduce defeatist beliefs associated with negative symptoms. NST-SPARK v.2.0 is being developed in partnership with a lived experience advisory panel. NST-SPARK v2.0 will deliver a 12-week course of treatment and will be developed over 10 development sprints spanning 9 months. In the second phase, the investigators will introduce NST-SPARK v2.0 to individuals with SSD (n=30) and moderate to severe negative symptoms for 12 weeks in a single-arm open-label study. The primary outcome is the efficacy of NST-SPARK v.2.0 in reducing experiential negative symptoms. Secondary outcomes include efficacy in reducing defeatist beliefs; efficacy in improving functioning; user statistics quantifying adherence to the prescribed sessions; qualitative, semi-structured feedback to guide future product development. This study will set the stage for FDA-informed phase II trials.

Schizophrenia and depression are among the most disabling disorders in all of medicine. Cognitive deficits play a key role in patients' disability, affecting their capacity to contribute actively to society by sustaining employment or academic activity. Moreover, cognitive difficulties tend to persist even after the stabilization of other clinical symptoms. Verbal memory and emotion regulation are two important cognitive domains that are impaired in schizophrenia and depression and are associated with patients' functional outcomes. In this study, brain imaging is used to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying these cognitive deficits in these populations.