Motor slowing is a hallmark, clinical sign in mental illness. Slowness can be related to a specific disease process, as in negative schizophrenia or depression or it can be the result of medications used to treat forms of mental illness. Prior research has lead to a novel instrumental approach for distinguishing subtypes of motor slowing - one type related to cognitive processes and another related to parkinsonism. The purpose of this study is to test whether new medications used to treat schizophrenia improve the cognitive or parkinsonian components of motor slowing. Patients will be studied in the laboratory before and 8-weeks after starting a new antipsychotic. The n of this study = 60 patients. The results of this study will improve our understanding of the complex interactions between cognitive processing and motor behavior in patients with psychotic illnesses and how drugs work to treat these problems.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention	Phase
Schizophrenia	Drug: Risperidone  Drug: Olanzapine  Drug: Quetiapine	Phase IV

Ages Eligible for Study:  21 Years   -   70 Years,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Criteria

Schizophrenia diagnosis currently treated with conventional antipsychotic willing to be switched to an atypical antipsychotic.

California
      Department of Veterans Affairs, San Diego,  California,  92161,  United States; Recruiting

Study ID Numbers:  MHBS-041-00S
Record last reviewed:  June 2001
Record first received:  July 3, 2001
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00018668
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2004-11-09