Biotypes Course of Early Psychosis and Specialized Services (BICEPS)

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BICEPS

Institutions & funding

What institutions are involved?

This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health and is made up of several university-community mental health agency partnerships. These include:

The University of Chicago & Thresholds

Harvard & Beth Israel Medical Center in Massachusetts

Yale & Hartford Hospital in Connecticut

University of Georgia

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Visits

What is participating in the BICEPS Study like?

There are 4-5 visits over 12-months where you will complete study activities.

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VISIT 1: The initial visit takes about 5-6 hours. It includes clinical interviewing, cognitive tests, EEG, Eye-tracking, & an MRI. This visit can be broken into a few shorter visits.

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Visits 2-4 each take about 3 hours and involve repeating some of the clinical interview and the cognitive tests. The timeline for these visits:

VISIT 2 – 1 Month after Visit 1

VISIT 3 – 6 Months after Visit 1

VISIT 4 –12 Months after Visit 1

Features

Want more information on the specific assessments used in this study?

Visit 1 Procedures: Part of this visit includes finding out if you are eligible to take part in the research study. Approximate time is 5-6 hours and can be broken into 2-3 visits. Procedures include:

Clinical interview about your feelings and experiences

Questions explore how you are currently feeling, mental health symptoms, how you are feeling about past & current symptoms, your relationships & how you spend your time.

Interview about your medical and psychiatric history and your family history of psychiatric illness:

Questions explore your lifetime history mental health problems and the lifetime mental health problems of your family. You may sign a waiver to request access to your medical record (but you don’t have to).

Urine test for recreational substances & Urine pregnancy test

You will take a test during each visit to check for the presence of drugs of abuse such as cocaine or opioids.

If you are a woman of childbearing potential, you will be asked to give a urine sample for a pregnancy test. All information will be kept confidential.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive way to take pictures of your brain while you lie quietly and as still as possible.

Cognitive Tests

You will be given a number of tasks about your thinking, memory, and problem-solving skills.

Electroencephalogram (EEG):

You will have a type of electroencephalogram (EEG) in which a cap will be put on your head to record your brain waves. A gel that will wash off with water is used.

Eye-Tracking

We will measure your eye movements as you follow objects on a computer screen.

Visits 2, 3 & 4 Procedures. You will be asked to return for 3 more visits that would take place 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months after enrolling in the study. Those each include:

Clinical interview about your feelings and experiences

This will be slightly modified from the visit 1 clinical interview to account for the time that has passed since then.

Cognitive Tests

You will be given a number of tasks about your thinking, memory, and problem-solving skills.

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