NCT00993876

Cognitive Flexibility in Major Depression in the Course of Pharmacological and Psychotherapeutic Treatment

Cognitive Flexibility and Its Correlation to Sleep and Neuroplasticity In The Course Of Depression During Different Treatments

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (actual)
• Sponsor: Zentrum für Integrative Psychiatrie · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 20 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Cognitive deficits in major depression seem explicable by the well-recognized concept of impaired neuroplasticity in mood disorders. This concept initially emerged from preclinical evidence that antidepressants phosphorylate and therefore activate the cyclic AMP response element binding protein (CREB) that is essential for synaptic plasticity. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the activation of CREB by antidepressants is relevant for the remission of cognitive deficits in patients. We addressed this issue by investigating the cognitive improvement during treatment with either citalopram or reboxetine because these antidepressants are different in their capacity to increase phosphorylated CREB (pCREB). Besides the pharmacological treatment groups, another group of patients was treated exclusively with psychotherapy.

Detailed description

We randomly assigned forty-five depressive patients to one of three treatment groups (Citalopram, Reboxetin or interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)). At baseline, day 7 and day 28 we assessed the severity of depression and the cognitive performance with respect to cognitive flexibility, memory and attention. We measured pCREB with an enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA).

Conditions

• Cognitive Performance in Major Depression

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	citalopram	20 to 30 mg per day for 4 weeks
DRUG	reboxetine	4 to 8 mg per day for 4 weeks
BEHAVIORAL	interpersonal psychotherapy

Timeline

• Start date: 2005-08-01
• Primary completion: 2008-08-01
• Completion: 2008-08-01
• First posted: 2009-10-14
• Last updated: 2009-10-14

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany