Trial reportJournal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology2018
N-Acetylcysteine for Nonsuicidal Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents: An Open-Label Pilot Study.
Trial report in Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Intervention effect of narrative therapy on non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents with depressive disorder: a prospective randomized controlled study].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2024Trial
- An Open-Label Case Series of Glutathione Use for Symptomatic Management in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Trial
- The therapeutic effect of N-acetylcysteine as an add-on to methadone maintenance therapy medication in outpatients with substance use disorders: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Brain and behavior · 2023Trial
- Findings from a pilot open-label trial of N-acetylcysteine for the treatment of pediatric mania and hypomania.BMC psychiatry · 2022Trial
- Neural correlates of clinical improvement in response to N-acetylcysteine in adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2020Trial
- Recurrent Deliberate Foreign Body Ingestion: Psychiatric Comorbidities, Management Strategies, and Ethical Considerations.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Dopamine-Derived Oxidative Stress in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Narrative Review of Molecular Mechanisms, Neural Circuitry, and Therapeutic Implications.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: A Narrative Review.Alpha psychiatry · 2026Review
- Article
- N-acetylcysteine Pharmacology and Applications in Rare Diseases-Repurposing an Old Antioxidant.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Dietary macrominerals: Updated review of their role and orchestration in human nutrition throughout the life cycle with sex differences.Current research in food science · 2023Review
- The Potential of N-acetyl Cysteine in Behavioral Addictions and Related Compulsive and Impulsive Behaviors and Disorders: a Scoping Review.Current addiction reports · 2022Article
- Stress- and drug-induced neuroimmune signaling as a therapeutic target for comorbid anxiety and substance use disorders.Pharmacology & therapeutics · 2022Review
- The Mediterranean Diet and the Western Diet in Adolescent Depression-Current Reports.Nutrients · 2022Review
- The Potential of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders.CNS drugs · 2022Review
- Psychopathological and Neurobiological Overlap Between Anorexia Nervosa and Self-Injurious Behavior: A Narrative Review and Conceptual Hypotheses.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Identifying Biological Signatures of N-Acetylcysteine for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents and Young Adults.Journal of psychiatry and brain science · 2021Article
- Psychological and neurobiological aspects of suicide in adolescents: Current outlooks.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2020Review
- New Somatic Treatments for Child and Adolescent Depression.Current treatment options in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Alexithymia is associated with neural reactivity to masked emotional faces in adolescents who self-harm.Journal of affective disorders · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is common in adolescents and young adults, and few evidence-based treatments are available for this significant problem. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a widely available nutritional supplement that has been studied in some psychiatric disorders relevant to NSSI including mood and addictive disorders. This pilot study tested the use of NAC as a potential treatment for NSSI in youth.
methodsThirty-five female adolescents and young adults with NSSI aged 13-21 years were enrolled in this study that had an open-label, single-arm study design. All participants were given oral NAC as follows: 600 mg twice daily (weeks 1-2), 1200 mg twice daily (weeks 3-4), and 1800 mg twice daily (weeks 5-8). Patients were seen every 2 weeks throughout the trial, at which time youth reported the frequency of NSSI episodes. Levels of depression, impulsivity, and global psychopathology were measured at baseline and at the end of the trial using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Barratt Impulsivity Scale, and Symptoms Checklist-90 (SCL-90).
resultsAbout two-thirds of the enrolled female youth completed the trial (24/35). NAC was generally well tolerated in this sample. NAC treatment was associated with a significant decrease in NSSI frequency at visit 6 and visit 8 compared to baseline. We also found that depression scores and global psychopathology scores (but not impulsivity scores) decreased after NAC treatment. Decrease in NSSI was not correlated with decrease in BDI-II or SCL-90 scores, suggesting these might be independent effects.
conclusionWe provide preliminary evidence that NAC may have promise as a potential treatment option for adolescents with NSSI. The current results require follow-up with a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to confirm efficacy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.