Conditions: TBI Major Depression Other Psychiatric Disorders
Keywords: TBI Depression Mood Behavior
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 16
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This research is being done to see if a drug called escitalopram (Lexapro) is helpful to people who are suffering from depression after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Detailed description:
Despite it's high prevalence, little is known about the pharmacological treatment of depression following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). This is because of a lack of randomized controlled studies in the treatment of post-TBI depression. This study is designed to examine the safety and effectiveness of escitalopram in the treatment of post-TBI depression. It will also investigate metabolic changes and neural pathways associated with post-TBI depression and metabolic alterations after treatment through neuroimaging.

Arms:
arm 1: Daily for 12 weeks arm 2: Escitalopram 10 mg or 20 mg daily for 12 weeks

Interventions: intervention 1: Escitalopram intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Escitalopram 10 mg or 20 mg daily for 12 weeks by mouth intervention 2: Sugar pill placebo

Protocol document: