Latent Structure of Multi-level Assessments and Predictors of Outcomes in Psychiatric Disorders
Condition: Depression; Anxiety; Eating Disorders; Drug Use Disorders
MeSH terms: Substance-Related Disorders; Depression; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Mental Disorders; Problem Behavior
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      In this study the investigators will seek to improve our understanding of how positive and
      negative valence systems, cognition, and arousal/interoception are inter-related in disorders
      of mood, substance use, and eating behavior. The investigators will recruit 1000 individuals
      and use a wide range of assessment tools, neuroimaging measures, blood and microbiome
      collections and behavioral tasks to complete the baseline and follow-up study visits. Upon
      completion, the investigators aim to have robust and reliable dimensional measures that
      quantify these systems and a set of assessments that should be recommended as a clinical tool
      to enhance outcome prediction for the clinician and assist in determining who will likely
      benefit from what type of intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      Neuroscience has made tremendous progress in understanding the basic neural circuitry that
      underlies important processes such as attention, memory, and basic emotion processing. Yet,
      little progress has been made to utilize these insights to apply them to psychiatric
      populations in order to make clinically meaningful predictions. The connection between
      psychiatric disorders and their underlying neurobiology has been difficult to establish. The
      overarching theme of this study is to determine how biological and objective behavioral
      measures can contribute to improving assessment and treatment of psychiatric patients. The
      investigators will use the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain
      Criteria (RDoC) framework as a heuristic approach that integrates neuroscience and
      psychopathology to study the positive and negative valence systems, cognition and
      arousal/interoception domains. Within this framework we will study a group of treatment
      seeking individuals with mental health conditions to determine how dysfunctions of affect,
      substance use, and eating behavior organize across different levels and whether these latent
      factors can be used to generate clinically useful prediction.

      Using self-report, behavior, physiology, neural circuit, cell, molecule, and gene unit of
      analysis measures, the investigators propose to enroll 1000 individuals from four different
      cohorts over 5 years: (1) anxiety and/or depression; (2) eating problems; (3) substance use
      problems; and (4) healthy controls. Each individual will undergo a multi-level assessment
      that consists of (a) a standardized diagnostic assessment, (b) self-report questionnaires,
      (c) behavioral tasks, (d) physiological measurements, (e) structural and functional magnetic
      resonance imaging (fMRI) and EEG, (f) biomarker and microbiome assessments, (g) blood to
      derive induced pluripotent stem cells, (h) and genetic and epigenetic assessments. These
      individuals will be followed up for one year and will be re-assessed using a multi-domain
      assessment of functioning, which will include: (a) symptom severity and duration, (b)
      subjective well-being, (c) psychosocial function, (c) occupational function, (d) physical
      health, (e) utilization of mental health resources (treatment), and (f) compliance with
      treatment.
    

Intervention name(s): standardized diagnostic assessment; self-report questionnaires; behavioral tasks; physiological measurements; structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging and EEG; biomarker and microbiome assessments; blood to derive induced pluripotent stem cells; genetic and epigenetic assessments
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Other; Other; Other; Other; Other
Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Community Sample
      
Biospecimen description: 
      Whole Blood, Serum, Plasma, Microbiome
    
Keywords: Depression; Anxiety; Eating Disorders; Substance Use; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Genetics; Behavior; Mental Health