Welcome from the Head of Department

Dear Colleagues,

The publication of this second edition of our Psychological Medicine Newsletter is a minor miracle. All credit goes to Jolanta and Olga for their sheer persistence, persuasive powers and ingenuity, in overcoming multiple administrative hurdles and cutting through a giant Gordian knot of red tape, which eventually enabled Olga to be allowed use of the official King’s template for such publications. Bravo, ladies!

The last 6 months since the publication of our first newsletter have been a bit of a roller coaster. We have seen the initial elation about the outstanding IoPPN REF results give way to the much more sombre reality of HEFCE funding formulas that significantly disadvantage mental health research and thus the IoPPN and everyone therein.

At the beginning of the summer, we saw the birth and implementation of our new PDR system. l must say I looked forward to this with some trepidation, given the inevitable teething problems that the introduction of any such new system causes and, of course, because of the considerable amount of extra work caused by the new system to any HoD. One very enjoyable thing for me personally was that this provided an opportunity to get to know everyone in the Department, read about all the amazing work that people are doing and their ambitions and plans for the future. What a hardworking and impressive bunch you all are. Very humbling and uplifting reading indeed.

Ironically, shortly after the PDRs had all been put to bed, I came across an article in The Times (Thursday, 30 July 2015) suggesting that PDRs are likely to become a thing of the past and that giant management companies such as Deloitte and Accenture, which have previously implemented and advised on such systems, have now abolished them. The Head of Accenture was quoted as saying ‘We are not sure that spending all that time in performance management has been yielding such a great outcome’.

The Evening Standard took up the theme the following day, but neither article was able to shed any light on what kind of systems these companies were going to use instead. It will be interesting to learn about ‘the next thing’ and see whether it gets implemented in the HES. In this context, it is also of note that there seems to be an emerging government-led drive

Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter for the Department of Psychological Medicine. Thank you for all your numerous contributions.

As always, we would welcome any feedback on the content as well as your input into future issues.

olga.zielona@kcl.ac.uk

Editor-in-chief: Olga ZielonaCo-editor: Dr Jolanta Zanelli

Department of Psychological Medicine Newsletter: Issue 2 • January 2016 1

NewsletterPsychological Medicine

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

INSIDE

Research updates 2

Events 5

Events & welcomes 7

Awards 8

Students’ corner 10

Recent grants and publications 11

Issue 2 | January 2016

Continued on page 2

2 Department of Psychological Medicine Newsletter

to change the universities to be more responsive to students and improve the student experience.

I don’t know how and when the government will effect such changes, but at a guess there will be a rating scheme and some financial reward/penalty! At a local level, this may result in changes in how staff are appraised and promoted – time will tell.

After a full year into being HoD and preparing for this year’s rounds of promotions, I feel I have finally arrived, as I now have done most typical HoD activities at least once. It was lovely to be treated to a welcome party in the spring and, as many people said, we should definitely try to have an annual Psychological Medicine party. We will start planning for this as soon as Christmas is out of the way, so that people can put it in their diaries.

Incidentally, Psychological Medicine is clearly a trail blazer in the newsletter ‘business’. Since we started ours, other newsletters have now emerged both at departmental level and IoPPN wide. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I hope you will enjoy the many good news and success stories in this second newsletter as much as I did.

All the best,

Ulrike Schmidt, Head of DepartmentPsychological Medicine, IoPPN

The DELAROSE project was introduced in the previous edition of the Psychological Medicine newsletter. The project, which is concerned with creating an educational stress management online programme for healthcare professionals, is currently in the pilot phase. Three sites across Europe are now providing access to the learning sessions and extra course materials to healthcare workers in Austria, Ireland and Switzerland.

Student participants of the pilot are required to return a portfolio of different learning activities assigned on the course. These portfolios are assessed and accredited by the partner educational site for each respective country. The challenge is to collect the portfolios and assess them for all participants before the end of the assessment period at the beginning of September.

The pilot is measuring increases in participants’ knowledge across a range of modules covering different aspects of stress management. These include cognitive and behavioural skills, such as identifying unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour; assessment of risk in the workplace skills, and the utilisation of exercise.

King’s College London have been involved in the project, funded by a European grant, for the past 18 months. Sula Windgassen, under the supervision of Professor Trudie Chalder, has contributed to the development of course material regarding cognitive and behavioural aspects of stress management and to the design and assessment of the pilot phase of the project. Results of the pilot phase are being analysed and will be submitted in the final report in January 2016.

For more information about the project or to register interest in accessing the website you can contact Sula Windgassen by email: sula.windgassen@kcl.ac.uk

Sula WindgassenPsychological Medicine, IoPPN

DELAROSE projectDELAROSE Stress Management for Healthcare Professionals

Service Parents’ & Adolescents’ Challenges & Experiences (SPACE) studyFollowing on from the KIDS study, which concluded in 2013, the SPACE study received funding from the US Dept of Defense to further investigate the influence of PTSD in military fathers on their adolescent children’s emotional wellbeing and behaviour. The study received MoDREC approval in June 2015 and recruited its final RA (Research Assistan) to the team in July, bringing the team total to three

research assistants, a research administrator, and a study co-ordinator. The study PI is Professor Nicola Fear.

The SPACE study aims to recruit 100 families with eligible children aged 11-17 to the study by early summer 2016. Measures used include online questionnaires for all family members and a home visit to the families.

All families participating have taken part in the Department’s flagship cohort study as well as the KIDS study.

Melanie Chesnokov SPACE Study Co-ordinator, KCMHR

Research updates

Continued from page 1

Issue 2: January 2016 3

PRINCE Trials

Professor Trudie Chalder

PRINCE Primary is a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial, which aims to evaluate the acceptability

and feasibility of studying an integrated approach to care in general practice for adults with PPS. The intervention ‘Integrated GP care’ will involve training GPs in the use of cognitive behaviour therapy for patients with PPS. The training will be CPD accredited and will include role play, videos, ongoing supervision and prompt sheets for GPs to use. In addition, patients will be given self-help materials which include a series of leaflets and an animation describing a patient’s experience with chronic pain.

The PRINCE Secondary randomised controlled trial, has been designed to evaluate the clinical and cost-

effectiveness of Standard Medical Care (SMC) plus Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (SMC+CBT), for patients with PPS. SMC+CBT will be compared with SMC alone.

This trial will recruit 450 patients in total across several clinics, including Rheumatology (fibromyalgia), Neurology (functional neurological symptoms), Gastroenterology (irritable bowel syndrome), Postural Tachycardia Syndrome clinic (PoTS), and the Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic (non-cardiac chest pain). Following baseline assessment, participants will be required to complete follow-up measures at weeks 9, 20, 40 and 52.

Professor Trudie ChalderIoPPN

Katie Watts, Research Worker (Secondary Care) IoPPN

Patients with persistent physical symptoms (PPS), otherwise referred to as medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), appear across all areas of medicine. Their symptoms are often associated with profound disability and increased and unnecessary healthcare costs. Patients themselves experience fragmented care and often feel misunderstood and stigmatized. Our research seeks to overcome these difficulties by developing new care pathways with acute care clinicians for patients with medically PPS in secondary care and an integrated care approach in primary care. These pathways will facilitate the delivery of care to patients that is effective and acceptable but not yet comprehensively implemented across a healthcare system. We are conducting two randomised trials to this end.

Research updates

The SPACE study team. From left to right back row: Kristy Rye, Bonnie Parker, Melanie Chesnokov; front row left to right: Nathan Parnell and Anna Verey

4 Department of Psychological Medicine Newsletter

Research up

During the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the UK sustained 625 of battlefield casualties with servicemen and women returning home with severe combat-related trauma. Of these, 275 suffered a traumatic or surgical amputation.

Although all seriously injured service personnel received early and expert ‘rehabilitation’ and most made good short-term progress, their longer-term future is unclear, a fact noted by the House of Commons Defence Committee. Studies on long-term health outcomes of veterans from World War II, the Vietnam and the Iran-Iraq wars are not really applicable to the current unique population who suffer more extensive and severe injuries.

The ADVANCE Study’s aim is to investigate the long-term cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and other health and psychosocial related outcomes of UK armed services physical battlefield trauma patients.

ADVANCE study

Research updates

Testing the effects on the brain of a novel anti-anxiety drugProfessor Allan Young and I, in collaboration with Professor Steve Williams of the Department of Neuroimaging, secured £700,000 of FEC funding for an academic/industry partnership with an Australian pharmaceutical company named Bionomics Ltd. Bionomics Ltd have an interest in developing new types of anti-anxiety medication because anxiety disorders are the most prevalent form of psychiatric illness and, whilst current anti-anxiety drugs can provide relief, they typically have sedative side effects that impede important activities.

Bionomics Ltd developed BNC210 and five Phase I studies show it is safe, non-sedating and potentially anxiolytic. In our

study (a Phase IIa clinical trial) we will test the capacity of BNC210 to engage anxiety-related brain systems in 24 participants who meet diagnostic criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This study requires tight technical and clinical organisation as well as modern MRI scanning facilities. We are therefore pleased to have been helped by the BRC infrastructure.

The MRI component includes a novel translation of a rodent task which measures the intensity of threat-avoidance behaviour. This task is known as the Mouse Defence Test Battery and I originally translated it for human use during my PhD. I demonstrated that it was sensitive to the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam. It was then adapted for use in fMRI. The task entails the participant (represented by the green dot) using a force-sensing joystick to avoid a pursuing red dot. In 50% of the trials (48 in total) the participant receives an electric shock

if they fail to escape from the red dot. This threat is signalled by a red zigzag icon – the task allows us to measure the boosting effect on brain activity of the threat of electric shock. If the new drug developed by Bionomics has potential to reduce anxiety it should ameliorate this boosting effect.

Dr Adam Perkins, Lecturer in the Neurobiology of Personality, Centre for Affective DisordersPsychological Medicine

Professor Sir Simon Wessely and Professor Nicola T Fear

ADVANCE is a cohort study that will compare the health of 600 male combat casualties, with matched controls over 20 years; this study is an unique opportunity to describe the long-term physical and psychosocial outcomes of blast and other military trauma and will influence the development of medical, surgical and rehabilitation care pathways for the future. This study will be funded for the first 5 years by the MoD and Help for Heroes. Data collection started in early August 2015.

The study is a collaborative research project between the MoD, Headley Court, Imperial College and the King’s College London with Professor Nicola Fear from KCMHR as one of the study’s PI and Professor Sir Simon Wessely as a member of the Strategic Steering Committee. KCMHR played a pivotal role in the design stage of the study and will be actively involved in its delivery, assessment of mental health and wellbeing of the study participants.

The three primary outcomes are: • Cardiovascular risk: determined by

pulse wave velocity at 20 years;• Major Adverse Cardiovascular

Endpoint (MACE): i.e. stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, transient ischaemic attack (TIA) at 20 years;

• Osteoarthritis of the hip and knee: determined by patient reported outcomes and radiographic assessment at 20 years.

Dr Andrea Marongiu, Research Associate

Issue 2: January 2016 5 Issue 2: January 2016 5

ERGOMAS conferenceRachael Gribble, a 2nd year PhD student at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research, attended the 2015 ERGOMAS Conference in Israel in June.

While there, she presented some of the quantitative data findings from her PhD project,

which is examining how the social and mental well-being of women with partners in the UK military might be affected. As well as the panel sessions, there were many opportunities for networking, including a Young Scholars event, organised the day prior to the conference. Later in June, Rachael also presented her work at a research symposium organised by the Army Families Federation (AFF) at HQ Army (in Andover). The AFF, who are part funding Rachael’s PhD, provide support and advocacy to Army families in the UK. Both presentations generated good discussions amongst the attendees in relation to their own work and in highlighting areas Rachael may wish to address in her thesis.

UPCOMING Psychological Medicine Seminars 2016Psychological Medicine Seminars take place every other Monday at 13.00 in the Department of Psychological Medicine in the Seminar Room, 3rd Floor, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ.

18 January – Beverly Bergman: Understanding the Early Service Leaver

25 January – Karolina Bogdanowicz: SUMMIT seminar (title TBC)

8 February – Michael Ball: Data minding, social media and medical records

22 February – Nikola Kern: Eating disorders

7 March – Felicity Walker: Involving veteran service users in clinical services in research

21 March – Simran Thandi: The impact of informal caregiving on the intimate relationships of spouses and partners of wounded, injured, or sick (WIS) UK military personnel

25 April – SUMMIT seminar (TBC)

Research updates Events

International Institute of Risk and Safety Management

Psychiatrist Dr Anders Herane participated as a speaker at a conference day called Managing Stress and Psychosocial Risks at Work of International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) on 18 February 2015. His talk was about the neurobiology of stress and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy interventions.

He talked about how we can manage these psychosocial issues at work. He reminded the delegates of the importance of preventing stressful situations (stressors), reducing the intensity of the stressors, and helping to cope with stressful conditions. ‘Looking at role issues, relationships at work, the person/environment fit, colleague support groups, role feedback and participatory decision- making programs, are all effective ways of ensuring the interface between the organisation and the individual,’ explained Dr Herane. He also discussed a cognitive behavioural technique called ‘rational emotive behaviour therapy’ (REBT) that it is focused on resolving emotional and behavioural problems and disturbances to enable people to live more fulfilling lives.

Dr Anders Herane speaking at the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management Conference. February 2015

Anders is a PhD student in the Affective Disorders Research Group. He researches different subtypes of depression and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome measuring cortisol levels in hair, fingernails, and saliva specimens. His supervisors are Professor Allan Young and Professor Tony Cleare.

Athena SWAN Diversity & Inclusionactivities in the Department

In 2014 we set up a mentoring programme in the Department of Psychological Medicine, which was

specifically aimed for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) (Laudel and Gläser, 2008). We prioritised a mentoring programme for this level of academia because from Lecturer level onwards the proportion of females, relative to males, reduces at the IoPPN. Although this programme was developed as part of the Athena Swan charter, it was open to both genders. This was in line with the Athena Swan principle that bad practice disproportionately affects women, while good practice benefits all staff.

We set up the programme with the support of Sabina Khanom, the Athena Swan Project Manager, and Professor Khalida Ismail, utilising their experience in mentoring. The initial steps were to identify how we were defining ECRs for the current programme and to develop a timeline for the development, implementation and the evaluation. We chose to include PhD students because

they have been excluded from many academic mentoring programmes, and the final stages of the PhD trajectory are a crucial time for future career decisions.

Before recruitment commenced we developed a questionnaire to assess what the mentees were hoping to gain from the mentoring programme and their career goals, to allow us to do the matching based on these preferences. We also identified two short questionnaires on affective job satisfaction (Thompson and Phua, 2012) and occupational self-efficacy (Rigotti et al., 2008) so that we could evaluate whether there was any change in these outcomes by the end of the scheme. A training session in mentoring was offered to both mentors and mentees, provided by Professor Ismail, and this was primarily attended by mentees. Once the programme started, advice was given that the mentoring pairs should aim to meet at least 3 times during the 6 month programme and that any queries or problems that arose should be directed to the mentoring leads.

The scheme was evaluated in May 2015 and mentees were asked to complete questionnaires including the outcome measures, details of many times they met with their mentor and for any feedback on how the programme could be improved. Mentors were thanked for their time and investment and were also asked for any informal feedback. The feedback received from mentors was positive, but suggestions included further reminders to prompt meetings and advice to conduct the matching across departments to avoid potential conflicts of interest. The quantitative results for mentees suggested a small, but non-significant, increase in occupational self-efficacy from the pre- to post-scheme assessment, which could partly relate to the short duration of the scheme. There was little change in affective job satisfaction. Qualitative feedback on the scheme indicated that most of the mentees had found the experience valuable, helping them to ‘think more strategically about my future career’ or to ‘develop skills for future career goals’. We are hoping to develop the scheme as a wider resource across the IOPPN aimed at ECRs, and we hope that the existing mentors from Psychological Medicine will remain involved.

Dr Laura Goodwin & Dr Lara Harris, Psychological Medicine, IoPPN

Development of a mentoring programme for Early Career ResearchersBy Laura Goodwin and Lara Harris

Research updates Events

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Issue 2: January 2016 7

Research updates Events Events & welcomes

WELCOME TO OUR DEPARTMENT

Senior Lecturer

in Eating Disorders

We are delighted to welcome Dr Hubertus Himmerich, who joined the Department as Senior Lecturer in Eating Disorders on 1 Novermber 2015. Dr Himmerich was working in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Leipzig in Germany, where he held an endowed professorship for neurobiology of affective disorders financed by the Claussen-Simon-Foundation. Dr Himmerich has a strong scientific track record in the field of appetite regulation, obesity, eating disorders and psychoimmunology.

Dr Himmerich completed his psychiatric training at the Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich. During this time, he became interested in weight regulation, initially with a focus on medication-induced weight changes. Subsequently, he worked as a senior physician in the Eating Disorders Inpatient Unit at the University Hospital of Aachen University, where he also qualified as a supervisor for cognitive behavioural therapy.

NEW COURSES

Mental Health, Ethics and Law MSc

The programme is delivered by two internationally recognised centres of excellence and provides an integrated, strongly interdisciplinary, education in mental health, ethics and law. It will equip students to become leaders in healthcare, mental health law or policy.

PURPOSEThis integrated MSc is for anyone concerned with mental health who wishes to study the clinical, ethical and legal thinking behind current law, policy and clinical practice. It has been designed for health professionals, lawyers, policy makers, and all those with a relevant first degree who are keen to consider the difficult questions raised by mental ill health and society’s response.

KEY BENEFITS• In-depth and integrated clinical,

philosophical and legal analysis of key issues presented in the field of mental health

• Supported by the UK’s first centre of medical law and ethics (CMLE) and Europe’s largest centre for research and teaching in psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience (IoPPN)

Credit value: UK 180/ECTS 90

Duration:1 year

Programme leader/s: Dr Jillian CraigieDr Gareth OwenProfessor Genevra Richardson

CONTACT: law-graduateadmissions@kcl.ac.uk

Affective Disorders MSc

A unique programme focused on the study of Affective Disorders, from their characterisation and assessment, through causes and correlates, to the challenges of treating these debilitating conditions. Suitable for a wide-ranging spectrum of students and mental health professionals interested in specialist training from world-class experts.

PURPOSEThe purpose of the MSc Affective Disorders is to meet the growing need for a graduate training programme focused on Affective Disorders, which are projected to become the second leading contributor to global burden of disease by 2020. This MSc will help address this challenge by providing world-class specialised training to mental health professionals and non-clinical academics.

KEY BENEFITS• Strong clinical element, including

practical experience of clinical cases and evidence-based methodologies

• Multidisciplinary approach, capitalising on the most recent findings from a range of disciplines (psychiatry, genetics, neuroscience, biostatistics, psychology)

Credit value: UK 180/ECTS 90

Duration: 1 year FT, 2 years PT

Programme leader/s: Professor Allan YoungProfessor Anthony CleareProfessor Carmine Pariante

CONTACT: affdis@kcl.ac.uk

We are delighted to announce that Dr Patricia Zunszain has been appointed as Postgraduate Skills Co-ordinator in the IoPPN. Patricia assumed this role on 26 January.

The role provides important support to our PG students and postdocs; it involves working closely with the Heads of Graduate Studies (taught and research), the Dean of Education, Postdoc Champion and the Graduate School.

After obtaining a PhD in Organic Chemistry in her native Argentina, Dr Zunszain moved to the UK to do post-doctoral work in Medicinal Chemistry at University College London, which was then followed by Biophysics research at Imperial College London. In 2007 she joined the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, where she is now making the best use of her diverse set of skills, aiming to excel in translating basic science findings into clinically relevant outcomes. Her research focuses on elucidating underlying mechanisms of mood disorders as well as looking for biomarkers that can follow disease and predict response. The ultimate aim of her research is to provide a basis for improved treatment.

Awards

Professor Simon Wessely is Professor of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, and Honorary Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at King’s College and Maudsley Hospitals.

He is Director of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King’s College London and of the Academic Department of Military Mental Health (ADMMH), a partnership between MoD and King’s College London. He is Honorary Consultant Advisor in Psychiatry for the British Army, and a member of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council.

He was elected President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2014.

In 2015, he was awarded the following honours:

• Honorary MD, University of Sheffield • Honorary Fellow, Royal society of

Medicine • Honorary Fellow, Royal College of

Physicians (Edinburgh) • Honorary Fellow, Trinity Hall,

Cambridge

Professor Edgar Jones is Professor of the History of Medicine and Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London.

He originally trained as an historian at Nuffield College Oxford before completing a doctorate in clinical psychopathology at Guy’s Hospital. He is programme leader for the MSc in War and Psychiatry and works in the field of military psychiatry exploring how both soldiers and civilians cope with the stress of war and enduring its effects on their mental state.

He is the co-author of ‘Shell Shock to PTSD, Military Psychiatry from 1900 to the Gulf’, Hove: Psychology Press, Maudsley Monograph (2005). He is currently studying how service personnel manage the transition to civilian life and, for those veterans suffering from psychological disorders, what aspects of daily life facilitate or inhibit recovery.

In July 2015 Professor Edgar Jones was awarded a President’s Medal for a significant contribution to improving the lives of people with mental illness by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

8 Department of Psychological Medicine Newsletter

PROFESSOR SIR SIMON WESSELY PROFESSOR EDGAR JONES

Events & welcomes

Postgraduate Skills Co-ordinator

Awards

Issue 2: January 2016 9

Dr Adam Perkins, Lecturer in the Neurobiology of Personality in the Centre for Affective Disorders, has received the 2015 Early Career Award from the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID). The award was presented on 28th July at the 2015 ISSID conference which was held at Western University in London, Ontario.

The Early Career Award is presented biennially to the most promising early career researcher globally in the field of individual differences research, with an early career researcher being defined as a scientist who has completed their doctoral degrees within the past seven years. The awarding committee cited as a key factor in Dr Perkins overcoming some fierce competition from more senior nominees.

In his award lecture, Dr Perkins spoke on the topic of his book and sparked a vigorous debate amongst the audience, which has been a hallmark of ISSID conferences since their inception in 1983.

ISSID has met biennially ever since then to foster research on individual differences in personality, intelligence, attitudes, and abilities and is the leading international forum for the no-holds-barred discussion of research on these topics. Members of the society include some towering figures in the world of psychology and psychiatry, none more so than its founding president Hans Eysenck who, amongst many other achievements, created the science of personality as we know it today.

Dr Valeria Mondelli is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London and a Liaison Consultant Psychiatrist at King’s College Hospital.

Valeria was awarded the 2015 BAP senior clinical psychopharmacology award this year from the British Association of psychopharmacology.

Having obtained her medical degree and specialty degree in psychiatry at the University of Turin in Italy, she moved to London in 2005 where she obtained her PhD in Psychological Medicine in 2009. She was then awarded a NIHR Clinical Lectureship, and continued to conduct her research and clinical work between the IoPPN and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. In 2013 she was appointed as deputy lead for the BRC Experimental Medicine and Clinical Trials cluster at IoPPN.

Her research interest focuses on the role of stress and of biological systems involved in the stress response in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders and in the interplay between physical and mental health. Her research achievements include: describing abnormal biological response to stress at onset of psychosis; second, identifying the biological response to stress as one of the factors contributing to the brain abnormalities found at psychosis onset; and third, showing that increased inflammatory markers and cortisol at the onset of psychosis predict a poor treatment response at 3-month follow-up.

Dr Martin Egeland received his PhD in 2012 from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He is currently at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, on a Marie Curie fellowship, examining the roles of stress and inflammation in depression.

He won the preclinical poster prize at the 2015 BAP summer meeting. His poster revisited the idea that adult neurogenesis may have a role in depression. Data for the poster developed by chance as a result of efforts to find a new tool to easily manipulate adult neurogenesis.

Temozolomide (TMZ), is a drug which proved to be a useful tool to study this as it decreases mitosis primarily in the CNS. He discovered that in mice, the TMZ induced neurogenesis depletion alone caused robust changes in a behavioural paradigm associated with the processing of novel situations. TMZ treated mice also had a larger hormonal reaction to stress but TMZ did not did not affect other behaviours related to depression. This suggests that adult neurogenesis alters certain brain functions such as thought processing related to depression but not others. Defects in these functions may be precursors to depression which then precipitates other symptoms. Restoration of adult neurogenesis may therefore also be, as supported by the literature, a precursor to recovery via restoration of these certain functions.

DR VALERIA MONDELLIDR ADAM PERKINS DR MICHAEL EGELAND

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WelcomesStudents’ corner

This is a student-led section of our Newsletter. You are cordially invited to submit your editorials for future issues here.

I wrote the editorial for the first edition of our departmental newsletter on behalf of many PhD students, and wrote about

some key issues I’d identified within our Department. I still feel, 10 months later, that these issues should be addressed. However, on this occasion my writing will take on a more personal note. You see, since the last newsletter was published, I have now entered that treacherous and closely scrutinised brigade known simply as ‘Final Year PhD Student’ (FYPS). This essentially means the finish line is ever-present, screaming, waving its hands of 100,000 words, calling for attention. And yet, it is more difficult to see than ever. Each day I think about the process, the to-do lists, the deadlines, the unticked boxes, teasing and taunting me until I cross them off with gusto, and sometimes just a little bit of pride.

I have talked to many fellow students, some of whom have just finished, some at the same stage as me, others just starting, and whilst it is important to take away the support and empathy that comes with such communication, in the end it is a most unique experience for each one of us. With that in mind, sitting down to write this brief editorial is a chance to take a deep breath and think about what this year will mean to me as I move forward, and what I hope to take away from it.

I believe a sense of gratitude and appreciation is needed first and foremost, and there is no lack of that, certainly. I am proud of where I’ve placed myself

through hard work and determination, but also grateful that my path led me to this institute and this Department. If you respect your colleagues and peers, the work you do is more rewarding as it allows you to unabashedly ask for that respect back. I, fortunately, find examples of intelligent, hard-working, and ambitious people every day I come into the institute.

After that, it’s about finding daily motivation, and this is where it gets tricky for most, if not all, PhD students. I have found mine in sometimes less than obvious situations, but always have tried to pick up on it immediately and squeeze it till it runs dry, and the next source awaits to be found. When the finish line starts to come into focus at some point during your final year, the motivation finds you, or so I’ve been led to believe. I hope this is indeed the case with me as well!

Still, the question everyone asks me about 3 minutes after I’ve revealed my status as a FYPS (this is a completely made up acronym by the way, but if it sticks, I can always take credit for it) is something along the lines of ‘So, do you know what you’re going to do after you finish?’ I happen to like this question; firstly, because it assumes you will indeed, finish; secondly, because I don’t think any two answers I’ve given to that question have been completely similar. I like the dynamic process of thinking about my future that comes with this experience. I have been taught and managed to learn, through parents, teachers, and mentors, that, like Ulysses, the journey to Ithaca is what truly makes the story. I don’t know if I ever will reach my personal Ithaca. I can recall, however, the part of my journey that unravelled as I slogged and danced in equal measure through medical school. I can recall where I was when I found out about my scholarship to do my MSc here at the IoPPN. I will no doubt recall the times thinking about the next step after my PhD. As I continue this journey, in this brief period while I write these lines, I will lean against the side of the ship and just let the waves direct my course. Tomorrow I will be back at the wheel, steering and looking for the horizon, as the island where my finished thesis awaits begins to come into view…

Jorge Palacios, PhD student

Recent grants

RECENT GRANTS

Employment and Health: Workings of the Fitnote. Funder: Royal College of Psychiatrists. Hotopf, M., Dorrington, S., Hatch, S. £295,194.00

Understanding variations in self-harm rates between deprived areas in London. Funder: Wellcome Trust. Polling, C., Academic, A., Hatch, S., £287,740.00

The influence of oxytocin on eating behaviours and stress in eating disorders. Funder: King’s Health Partners. Treasure, J., Cardi, V. £91,467.00

Personality-targeted web-based prevention of common mental disorders in adolescents. Funder: MRC. Musiat, P., Schmidt, U. £137,112.00

Mineralocorticoid receptor assessment in bipolar depression with early life stress. Funder: Royal Society. Young, A., Cleare, A. £99,000

The effects of repeated inflammatory insults on programming and function of hippocampal progenitor cells: a study towards understanding consequences of early life immune challenges for neuropsychiatric disorders. Funder: Francis Crick Institute. Zunszain, P., Pariante, C., Salam, A. £10,000.00

Employment and Health: Workings of the Fitnote. Funder: Royal College of Psychiatrists. Hotopf, M., Dorrington, S., Hatch, S. £295,194.00

ICare - Integrating Technology into Mental Health Care Delivery in Europe. Funder: EC-European Commission. Schmidt, U., Musiat, P. £565,651.00

Developing the evidence base to improve implementation and uptake of CBTp: A feasibility study adopting service user and clinician perspectives to shape a brief pre-CBTp interactive ‘informed choice’ intervention in the South East and London for patient b. Funder: NIHR - National Institute for Health Research. Peters, E., Garety, P., Musiat, P. £16,251.00

Issue 1: January 2015 11

Research updatesRecent grants & publications

Issue 2: January 2016 11

RECENT GRANTS

Evaluation of the group treatment programme for Anorexia Nervosa: generating research evidence. Funder: Swiss Anorexia Nervosa Foundation. Tchanturia, K. £50,176.00

Defining the disturbance in cortical glutamate and GABA function in psychosis, its origins and consequences. Funder: MRC. Zunszain, P., Pariante, C. £25,838.00

A multi-centre randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of enhanced motivational interviewing with usual care for reducing cardiovascular risk. Funder: NIHR - National Institute for Health Research. Ismail, K., Ashworth, M., Greenough, A., McCrone, P., Stahl, D., Treasure, J. et al. £160,732.00

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

For space reasons, we were only able to include a small selection of representative publications here.

Turkheimer, F. E., Bodini, B., Politis, M., Pariante, C. M., Ciccarelli, O. & Yeo, R. A. (2015).The X-Linked Hypothesis of Brain Disorders: Can Gender Ratios Tell Us Anything About Cellular Etiology of Neurodegenerative and Psychiatric Diseases? In: Neuroscientist.21, 6, p. 589-598.

Lang, K., Treasure, J. & Tchanturia, K. (2015). Is inefficient cognitive processing in Anorexia Nervosa a familial trait? : A neuropsychological pilot study of mothers of offspring with diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. In: The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. p. 1-23.

Mitchell, R. L. C. & Xu, Y. (2015). What is the value of embedding artificial emotional prosody in human computer interaction? : Implications for theory and design in psychological science. In: Frontiers in Psychology. 6, 1750

Mick, I., Myers, J., Ramos, A. C., Stokes, P. R., Erritzoe, D., Colasanti, A., Gunn, R. N., Rabiner, E. A., Searle, G. E., Waldman, A. D., Parkin, M. C., Brailsford, A. D., Galduróz, J. C., Bowden-Jones, H., Clark, L., Nutt, D. J. & Lingford-Hughes, A. R. (2015). Blunted Endogenous Opioid Release Following an Oral Amphetamine Challenge in Pathological Gamblers. In: Neuropsychopharmacology.

Wooderson, S. C., Gallagher, P., Watson, S. & Young, A. (2015). An exploration of testosterone levels in patients with bipolar disorder. In: British Journal of Psychiatry Open. 1, 2, p. 136-138

Pobric, G., Lambon Ralph, M. A. & Zahn, R. (2015). Hemispheric Specialization within the Superior Anterior Temporal Cortex for Social and Nonsocial Concepts. In: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. p. 1-10

Westwood, H., Eisler, I., Mandy, W., Leppanen, J., Treasure, J. & Tchanturia, K. (2015). Using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient

to Measure Autistic Traits in Anorexia Nervosa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. In: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Brooks, S. K., Dunn, R., Sage, C. A. M., Amlôt, R., Greenberg, N. & Rubin, G. J. (2015). Risk and resilience factors affecting the psychological wellbeing of individuals deployed in humanitarian relief roles after a disaster. In: Journal of Mental Health. 24, 6, p. 385-413

Lloyd, S., Schmidt, U., Khondoker, M. & Tchanturia, K. (2015). Can Psychological Interventions Reduce Perfectionism? : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. In: Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 43, 6, p. 705-731

Cullen, A. E., Day, F. L., Roberts, R. E., Pariante, C. M. & Laurens, K. R. (2015). Pituitary gland volume and psychosocial stress among children at elevated risk for schizophrenia. In: Psychological Medicine. 45, 15, p. 3281-3292

Herane Vives, A., De Angel, V., Papadopoulos, A., Strawbridge, R., Wise, T., Young, A. H., Arnone, D. & Cleare, A. J. (2015). The relationship between cortisol, stress and psychiatric illness: New insights using hair analysis. In: Journal of Psychiatric Research. 70, p. 38-49

Fok, M. L. Y., Seegobin, S., Frissa, S., Hatch, S. L., Hotopf, M., Hayes, R. D. & Moran, P. (2015). Validation of the standardised assessment of personality - abbreviated scale in a general population sample. In: Personality and Mental Health. 9, 4, p. 250-257

Downs, J. M., Hotopf, M. H., Simonoff, E., Shetty, H., Jackson, R. G., Ford, T., Stewart, R. J. & Hayes, R. D. (2015). Clinical predictors of antipsychotic use in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: a historical open cohort study using electronic health records. In: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Lythe, K. E., Moll, J., Gethin, J. A., Workman, C. I., Green, S., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Deakin, J. F. W. & Zahn, R. (2015). Self-blame-Selective Hyperconnectivity Between Anterior Temporal and Subgenual Cortices and Prediction of Recurrent Depressive Episodes. In: JAMA Psychiatry. p. 1-8

Strawbridge, R., Arnone, D., Danese, A., Papadopoulos, A., Herane Vives, A. & Cleare, A. (2015). Inflammation and clinical response to treatment in depression: A meta-analysis. In: European neuropsychopharmacology. p. 1532–1543

Goddard, E., Wingrove, J. & Moran, P. (2015). The impact of comorbid personality difficulties on response to IAPT treatment for depression and anxiety. In: Behaviour Research and Therapy. 73, p. 1-7

Stubbs, B., Gardner-Sood, P., Smith, S., Ismail, K., Greenwood, K., Farmer, R. & Gaughran, F. (2015). Sedentary behaviour is associated with elevated C-reactive protein levels in people with psychosis. In: Schizophrenia Research. 168, 1-2, p. 461-4

Research updates

12 Department of Psychological Medicine Newsletter

Recent publications

12 Department of Psychological Medicine Newsletter

Popovic, D., Vieta, E., Azorin, J-M., Angst, J., Bowden, C. L., Mosolov, S., Young, A. H. & Perugi, G. (2015). Suicide attempts in major depressive episode: evidence from the BRIDGE-II-Mix study. In: Bipolar Disorders.

Trotta, A., Murray, R. M., David, A. S., Kolliakou, A., O’Connor, J., Di Forti, M., Dazzan, P., Mondelli, V., Morgan, C. & Fisher, H. L. (2015) Impact of Different Childhood Adversities on 1-year Outcomes of Psychotic Disorder in the Genetics and Psychosis study. In: Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Jones, N., Keeling, M., Thandi, G. & Greenberg, N. (2015). Stigmatisation, perceived barriers to care, help seeking and the mental health of British Military personnel. In: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. p. 1-11

Fagiolini, A., Coluccia, A., Maina, G., Forgione, R. N., Goracci, A., Cuomo, A. & Young, A. H. (2015). Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Management of Mixed States in Bipolar Disorder. In: CNS Drugs. p. 1-16

Thandi, G., Sundin, J., Ng-Knight, T., Jones, M. M., Hull, L., Jones, N. O., Greenberg, N., Rona, R. J., Wessely, S. C. & Fear, N. T. (2015). Alcohol misuse in the United Kingdom Armed Forces: A longitudinal study. In: Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Patel, R., Jayatilleke, N. L., Broadbent, M., Chang, C-K., Foskett, N., Gorrell, G., Hayes, R. D., Jackson, R. G., Johnston, C., Shetty, H., Roberts, A., McGuire, P. & Stewart, R. J. (2015). Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: a study in a large clinical sample of patients using a novel automated method. In: BMJ Open. 5, 9, e007619

Matcham, F. A. E., Norton, S., Scott, D. L., Steer, S. & Hotopf, M. H. (2015). Symptoms of depression and anxiety predict treatment response and long-term physical health outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. In: Rheumatology (Oxford, England).

Plant, D. T., Pariante, C. M., Sharp, D. & Pawlby, S. (2015). Maternal depression during pregnancy and offspring depression in adulthood: role of child maltreatment. In: British Journal of Psychiatry. 207, 3, p. 213-220

Hotopf, M., Mehta, N., Henderson, M. & Westley, S. (2015). Wellbeing interventions: no evidence they prevent mental illness. In: Lancet. 386, 9996, p. 852-853, 127

Fairbrother, N., Young, A. H., Janssen, P., Antony, M. M. & Tucker, E. (2015). Depression and anxiety during the perinatal period. In: BMC Psychiatry. 15, 206

Hibbs, R. J., Magill, N., Goddard, E., Rhind, C. A-M. N., Raenker, S., MacDonald, P., Todd, G., Arcelus, J., Morgan, J., Beecham, J., Schmidt, U. H., Landau, S. & Treasure, J. L. (2015). Clinical effectiveness of a skills training intervention for caregivers in improving patient and caregiver health following in-patient treatment for severe anorexia nervosa: Pragmatic randomised controlled trial. In: British Journal of Psychiatry Open. 1, 1, p. 56-66

Winkley, K., Stahl, D., Chamley, M., Stopford, R., Boughdady, M., Thomas, S., Amiel, S. A., Forbes, A. & Ismail, K. (2015). Low attendance at structured education for people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: General practice characteristics and individual patient factors predict uptake. In: Patient Education and Counseling.

Marin Dapelo, M., Hart, S., Hale, C., Morris, R., Lynch, T. R. & Tchanturia, K. (2015). Facial expression of positive emotions in individuals with eating disorders. In: Psychiatry Research.

Woodhead, C., Gazard, B., Hotopf, M., Rahman, Q., Rimes, K. A. & Hatch, S. L. (2015). Mental health among UK inner city non-heterosexuals: the role of risk factors, protective factors and place. In: Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

Baumeister, D., Ciufolini, S. & Mondelli, V. (2015). Effects of psychotropic drugs on inflammation: consequence or mediator of therapeutic effects in psychiatric treatment? In: Psychopharmacology. p. 1-15

Nikkheslat, N., Zunszain, P. A., Horowitz, M. A., Barbosa, I. G., Parker, J. A., Myint, A-M., Schwarz, M. J., Tylee, A. T., Carvalho, L. A. & Pariante, C. M. (2015). Insufficient glucocorticoid signaling and elevated inflammation in coronary heart disease patients with comorbid depression. In: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 48, p. 8-18

Treasure, J., Kan, C., Stephenson, L., Warren, E., Smith, E., Heller, S. & Ismail, K. (2015). Developing a theoretical maintenance model for disordered eating in Type 1 diabetes. In: Diabetic Medicine.