Section of Primary Care Mental Health

The majority of people who have mental health problems initially seek help from their GP. Many continue to be treated in primary care without ever being referred to specialist services. GPs and other health professionals in primary care therefore need the skills to detect mental health problems and offer the best treatment. The research carried out by the Section of Primary Care Mental Health seeks to help GPs, practice nurses, health visitors and other primary care staff better recognise, diagnose and treat mental illness.

In addition, researchers are looking at ways of making sure primary care services are accessible to all people with mental health problems, particularly those who, for cultural reasons, may try to manage alone. They are also involved in mental health promotion.

Much of the research in Primary Care Mental Health is carried out in collaboration with other IoP departments, other research institutions, charities, and three primary care research networks in south London. They are Wandsworth Primary Care Research Centre (formerly Battersea Research Group) (www.wandsworthpct.nhs.uk/work/randd) Lewisham Research Unit (www.lru.org.uk) and STaRNet London (South London Primary Care Research Network) (www.starnet.org.uk).

The section is led by Professor Andre Tylee (Professor of Primary Care Mental Health),
a GP for 21 years before joining the IoP.
He was chair of the Primary Care Development Programme of the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) until June 2006 (www.nimhe.csip.org.uk ).

He was the founding chair and continues to be president of Primary Care Mental Health Education (PRIMHE), a charity that helps primary care professionals achieve and deliver the best standards of mental health care. It has nearly 3,000 members including professionals and service users, a quarterly journal and an interactive chat room (www.primhe.org). He is a patron of Depression Alliance (www.depressionalliance.org) and medical advisor to the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust (www.cwmt.org). He is editor of the peer review journal Primary Care Mental Health, a professional journal for family practitioners, nurses, social workers, psychotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, researchers, teachers, healthcare managers, medical and healthcare libraries. Primary Care Mental Health is published by Radcliffe (www.radcliffe-oxford.com).

Professor Tylee has set up a national special interest research group on nutrition and mental health which meets quarterly at the IoP and is currently planning both research trials and public campaigns. Psychologist and nutritionalist Patrick Holford, a best selling author and leading spokesman on nutrition, food and health (www.PatrickHolford.com) is involved in this group.