Our Research Projects
Explore our ongoing youth mental health research projects focused on understanding mental health challenges, developing early interventions, and improving care for young people. Our studies use neuroscience, clinical research, and innovative approaches to advance knowledge and support better mental health outcomes.
Discover our current research initiatives, including projects involving youth participants, speech and communication studies, psychosis research, and the development of new tools to better understand and address mental health needs.
Discover our ongoing project
Following youth to better understand their mental health
Recruitment age: 9 – 25 years old
Understanding disorganized speech in psychosis
Recruitment age: 18 – 65 years old
Building a Quebec-wide database of speech for mental health research
Recruitment age: +18 years old
Preventing relapse in psychosis through speech
Recruitment age: +18 years old
Eligibility: enrolled in the PEPP at the Douglas Hospital
Discover Our Past Projects
LAKE
The effects of ketamine on language
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The Language and Ketamine study (LaKe) is a research study examining the effects of ketamine on language and communication. Participants in this study will have been previously referred to the Douglas Ketamine Clinic to receive treatment. Ketamine treatment is generally well tolerated and extremely safe when administered with appropriate precautions and can produce a temporarily altered state of consciousness called “dissociative states”. We suspect this state may have a temporary effect on speech and aim to examine these changes through recorded speech tasks and a semi-structured interview.
Recruitment for this study is restricted to patients of the Douglas Hospital’s Ketamine Clinic.
MEGPSY
Neural regularity and its link to psychotic symptoms
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Both speech comprehension and production are affected in schizophrenia. Patients produce peculiar words and sentences that are out of context and unpredictable, leading to a failure in communication. Understanding the neural mechanisms behind this abnormality, and their relationship with these symptoms is thus needed. MEGPSY proposes a combined bioimaging and speech analysis study aiming to investigate the brain’s role in communication problems among people with schizophrenia. This research involves the examination of speech, thinking patterns and symptoms, as well as recordings of brain activity through MEG and MRI.
This study is funded by the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre Collaboration Program and the Quebec Bio-Imaging Network.
IMPLEMENT
Magnetic stimulation for negative symptoms in schizophrenia
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rTMS – repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation – is a novel treatment that is non-invasive, safe, and relatively quick to administer. It is currently approved by Health Canada for people experiencing depression. It works by delivering short magnetic pulses to stimulate specific regions of the brain, strengthening brain connectivity and improving communication between different brain regions. In this study, we aim to investigate whether rTMS can help reduce the negative symptoms associated with psychosis (e.g., withdrawal, lack of emotion or interest). This may provide a new treatment option for people experiencing negative symptoms as most current treatments for schizophrenia such as medication target positive symptoms with no effect on negative symptoms.
Neurobehavioural Study
Understanding social interaction and brain activity in schizophrenia
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The social disability associated with schizophrenia significantly affects patients’ quality of life, yet current treatments have limited success in addressing these challenges. This research investigates the underlying mechanisms of social dysfunction in schizophrenia, focusing on the unexplored link between disorganized communication and social interaction. This study uses multi-brain imaging technology called hyperscanning to evaluate brain and bodily activity during real-time social exchanges in individuals living with schizophrenia. This research explores the role of both neural and behavioural synchrony between interacting people to provide a comprehensive understanding of how communication is disrupted. Ultimately, this study aims to transform how social disability is approached, paving the way for more effective diagnostic and treatment strategies to improve patients’ quality of life.
This study is supported by Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Research Consortium
DISCOURSE in Psychosis
A global initiative on thought and language
An international consortium of 200+ researchers studying disruptions in discourse and communication in psychosis and schizophrenia.
Collaborative Studies
The Montreal–Douglas site of this study is led by Dr. Anthony Gifuni, Co-Investigator at the CEYMH. TIDE is one of several randomized clinical trials being developed alongside the BLOOM cohort.
Recruitment age: 12-25 years old
Q1K is a provincial cohort study aimed at advancing autism research and improving support for individuals with autism. The Montreal–Douglas site is led by Dr. Ridha Joober, Co-Investigator at the CEYMH.