Ilse Thompson MSc

Role: PhD student in the group of Iris Sommer

Promotor: Iris E.C. Sommer, Erik F.J. de Vries, Andre Aleman

On-going projects:

HAMLETT – Handling Antipsychotic Medication Long-term Evaluation of Targeted Treatment: pragmatic multicenter single-blind randomized controlled trial.
The HAMLETT study is a multicenter pragmatic single-blind randomized controlled trial in two parallel conditions (1:1) investigating the effects of maintenance treatment versus discontinuation/dose reduction of antipsychotic medication after remission of the first episode of psychosis on personal and social functioning, psychotic symptom severity, and health-related quality of life.

PET study – Super sensitivity psychosis after antipsychotic drug discontinuation in patients remitted after a first episode psychosis.
Discontinuation of antipsychotic medication after use of these drugs for several months may render patients with psychosis especially vulnerable to relapse. A potential mechanism behind this vulnerability could be increased density of postsynaptic dopamine D2 receptors in the striatum. This is investigated using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with the tracer [11C] raclopride.