Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder

In following guidelines for studying negative symptoms in schizophrenia, 60 patients aged 18-40, diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder during the last ten years, will receive a combination of the iron chelator DFP plus NAC or a matching placebo plus NAC combination, as add-on to their maintenance antipsychotic drug (APD) treatment, for a duration of 36 weeks. Prior to initiation of treatment, all participants will undergo baseline MRI scan. A follow-up MRI will be conducted at the end of the 36-week study period, or upon early withdrawal if applicable, to evaluate the effect of the add-on treatment on iron dyshomeostasis and morphology.

The two main groups of medicated patients with schizophrenia (SZ) are those receiving second-generation antipsychotics and those receiving first-generation antipsychotics. The purpose of this research project is to target each patient group to examine effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) on upper-limb movements in medicated SZ patients in a 6-month follow-up period. The main questions of this project are: 1. Does RAS reduce severity of upper-limb bradykinesia (slow movements) and dyskinesia (repetitive and involuntary movements) after intervention, at 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up in SZ patients receiving second-generation antipsychotics? and 2. Does RAS reduce severity of upper-limb bradykinesia and dyskinesia after intervention, at 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up in SZ patients receiving first-generation antipsychotics? Researchers will compare upper-limb movement training with the aid of RAS to upper-limb movement training without the aid of RAS to see if RAS works to improve upper-limb movements in SZ patients. Participants will: 1. Undergo an interview and movement tests and fill out questionnaires before and after the movement training program and at 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up; and 2. Receive movement training for 40 minutes per session for a total of 21 sessions.