Research Study at UCLA for Youth with Schizophrenia or Other Psychotic Illnesses
Who is eligible to participate? You/your child may be eligible if he/she/they:
- are between ages of 12-21
- onset of schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or other psychotic illness within last 2 years
Is the Adolescent Brain Behavior Research Center (ABBRC) the right place for you?
What are some of the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders?
- Unusual behavior
- Withdrawal from family, friends, and colleagues
- Pronounced suspiciousness
- Ideas of special powers, abilities or identity
- Distorted perceptions of sights, sound and speech
- Hearing voices and/or seeing visions
- Poor eating habits, sleeping patterns, personal hygiene
- Uncanny feelings that the world has become strange and unreal or that thoughts and behaviors are controlled by outside forces
- Diminished, blunted, or unusual emotional reactivity
- Difficulty concentrating
- Confused thinking
- Unusual beliefs
- Trouble understanding written and oral communication
- Elated happy mood or irritable, angry unpleasant mood.
- Poor judgment
- Slipping behind and failing at work and/or school
What happens during study participation?
Potential patients work with a member of the ABBRC staff to complete a confidential initial screening interview to determine whether they are eligible to participate in research at the ABBRC. Individuals who are eligible and choose to participate in the ABBRC research program will be asked to participate in the following research procedures (repeated over a one year period):
Visit 1:
- Clinical Interview
- Psychosocial evaluation
- Genetic testing (saliva sample)
Visit 2 (or visit 2 and 3, we can work with your schedule)
- Neurocognitive Testing
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scans
Participants will be paid $20/hour for their time
How to contact the ABBRC: Referrals to the ABBRC can be made by family physicians, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and mental health professionals. If you are someone you know is interested in participating, you may also contact us at: 310-206-9181 or karlsgodtlab@ucla.edu
Individuals under the age of 18 must have their parents call.