Studying Brain Responses to New Treatments in Teens and Young Adults at High Risk for Psychosis

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying individuals at clinical high risk CHR for psychosis to understand how different biomarkers relate to the development of psychosis and other clinical outcomes. This study builds on previous findings to explore novel biomarkers and brain circuit targets that may predict and influence the course of early psychosis. The goal is to identify how the brains ability to change neural plasticity affects outcomes and to pave the way for future treatment options. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of five groups two groups receive real interventions using either repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation rTMS targeting a specific brain circuit related to symptoms or mindfulness-based real-time functional MRI neurofeedback mb-rt-fMRI-NFB aimed at the frontal lobe. Two other groups receive similar sham placebo interventions targeted to unrelated brain areas. A healthy control group will not receive treatment but will be monitored for comparison. These interventions are delivered non-invasively and aim to engage brain networks involved in psychosis symptoms. During the study, participants undergo assessments at 1 month, 1 year, and 2 years to measure changes in brain function using functional connectivity via MRI, as well as clinical evaluations and various neuropsychological tests covering learning, memory, attention, and problem solving. Additional measurements include event-related potentials, natural language processing, structural MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging. The study will follow participants over five years to monitor outcomes and the impact of the interventions on biomarker abnormalities and clinical symptoms.

Mechanisms of Response to Therapeutic Intervention in Clinical High Risk (CHR) for Psychosis