Conditions: Major Depressive Disorder
Keywords: cognitive function psychosocial function augmentation treatment refractory depression
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 17
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Our target population will have been adequately treated with one of three selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs; escitalopram, citalopram, or sertraline) for at least 8-12 weeks and continue to experience symptoms of depression that have prompted them to seek additional treatment. Escitalopram, citalopram, and sertraline were selected for use in this study because they are among the most commonly selected SSRIs and they are associated with a reduced likelihood of drug-drug interactions with aripiprazole. After completion of the screening process, eligible participants will be augmented with aripiprazole (5, 10, or 15 mg) for 6 weeks. Participants will continue SSRI treatment with their prescribing physician, in conjunction with study participation. Symptom severity will be assessed on a weekly basis, and cognitive and psychosocial function will be assessed at pre- and post-augmentation. We hypothesize that aripiprazole augmentation will be associated with reductions in symptom severity, and with improved performance on measures of psychosocial and cognitive function.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: This is a single arm trial in which all participants recieved open label aripiprazole augmentation of their current escitalopram, citalopram or sertraline treatment.

Interventions: intervention 1: Aripiprazole
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: varied dose (5, 10, 15 mg qd) for 6 wks

Protocol document: