Conditions: Schizophrenia Schizoaffective Disorder
Keywords: schizophrenia, cognition, mood stabilizer
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 60
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The major objective of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that the addition of divalproex sodium to an atypical antipsychotic drug other than clozapine will significantly improve: a) cognition; and b) psychopathology (positive, negative, and mood symptoms) in a double-blind, randomized trial of 6 weeks duration in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Detailed description:
Cognitive function is one of the most critical deficits in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. It has been found that cognitive dysfunction may be even more important than positive or negative symptoms in predicting functional outcomes such as community adjustment, ability to work, social interactions, and caretaker burden. Preclinical data from our laboratory provided the rationale for a clinical trial to test whether divalproex sodium ER can improve cognitive impairment in patients.

The major objective of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that the addition of divalproex sodium to an atypical antipsychotic drug other than clozapine will significantly improve: a) cognition; and b) psychopathology (positive, negative, and mood symptoms) in a double-blind, randomized trial of 6 weeks duration in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Divalproex Sodium Extended-Release Tablets intervention 2: placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: divalproex sodium extended-release (ER) 1000 mg intervention 2: placebo identical in appearance to active comparator

Protocol document: