Psychological Medicine

The Group works to understand more about the neurobiological causes of mood disorders (also known as affective disorders), mental illnesses where the normal functioning of mood is disrupted, including clinical depression and bipolar disorder.

Much of this work is carried out with patients at the National Affective Disorder Unit, part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation’s Trust National Division. Patients from across the country are referred to this service with treatment resistant depression, seasonal affective disorder and manic depression. Professor Anthony Cleare, who heads the Section of Neurobiology of Mood Disorders, also runs the inpatient unit of the Affective Disorders Unit, based at Bethlem Royal Hospital in Kent.

The research team uses a variety of techniques to investigate neurobiological changes in mood disorders and looks at the role of hormones and the link between the brain and the immune system within a research laboratory based in the National Affective Disorder Unit. The team also measures brain function using Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines at the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, jointly run by the IoP and SLaM. One collaborative neuroimaging study being carried out with this Centre is seeking to predict the response of patients with depression to medication by measuring reactions in the brain. This drug development project is funded by Glaxo Smith Kline.

The Section focuses on two other areas of research: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME) and the health effects of mobile phones. Both these tranches of research are carried out in collaboration with the Section of General Hospital Psychiatry, also within the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry.

Research into the contribution of neuroendocrinological and other neurobiological factors in CFS/ME is conducted with the Chronic Fatigue Research and Treatment Unit, a national specialist service run jointly by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Section of General Hospital Psychiatry. Collaborative ongoing work with the Mobile Phone Research Unit in General Hospital Psychiatry is looking at the reasons for sensitivity to mobile phones, including police radios, and the potential effects of mobile phone radiation on neuroendocrine systems. This work is funded by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme.

Other funders of research include NARSAD (The Mental Health Research Association) and the Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, based at the IoP and SLaM.

Dr Anthony Cleare is a Reader in Affective Disorders who trained in psychiatry at The Maudsley Hospital. Any potential PhD students interested in undertaking research in the Section should contact him, a.cleare@iop.kcl.ac.uk.

The Affective Disorders Research Group is in the Department of Psychological Medicine with the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry.

Affective Disorders Research Group
Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, PO74
Institute of Psychiatry
De Crespigny Park
London SE5 8AF

Contact: Dilys Baker
Email: dilys.baker@kcl.ac.uk
Phone: 020 7848 5130
Fax: 020 7848 5408

The Section of Eating Disorders aims to find out more about the neurobiological, genetic and psychological causes of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders, and to use that knowledge to develop new and better treatments.

Research is closely interwoven with clinical services run by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), which serve a population of two million people in south-east London and take specialist referalls from throughout the UK. SLaM’s services include outpatient sevices based at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Kent, the Maudsley Hospital and Guy’s Hospital; an inpatient unit at the Bethlem; there is also a day care service at the Bethlem, which supports people throughout recovery; and Denbridge House, a residential hostel in Bromley.

Many of the people referred to these services, and their families, participate in the Section’s plethora of research projects. Many of these research projects are conducted in collaboration with beat (formerly the Eating Disorders Association), the UK’s leading eating disorders charity.

Research participants take part in a variety of studies, ranging from brain imaging projects to help researchers find out more about hunger circuits and how they are affected by eating disorders, to projects searching for genetic factors that influence the development of anorexia nervosa. Participants also help in the development of new treatments: web-based treatments to help parents and carers offer support needed to aid recovery, for example, and a web-based self-help package based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for young people with bulimia nervosa.

The Section runs a Volunteers Database and is always keen to hear from people with experience of an eating disorder as well as healthy volunteers. Email Frankie Bishopp if you are willing to join the database.

Funders of research include the Medical Research Council, the IoP-based Psychiatry Research Trust, the charity Research into Eating Disorders and the Department of Health: the Section has been awarded £2 million through the National Institute for Health Research for work on understanding more about anorexia nervosa and translating that understanding into treatment. The Section is also a collaborator in a major European Commission-funded project which focuses on improving health care for women with eating disorders and involves nine partners from eight European countries. INTACT (Individually Tailored Stepped Care for Women with Eating Disorders) is researching and developing individually tailored treatment by finding out more about the genetic, social and environmental risks involved in anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other eating disorders.

The Section organises training for health professionals about treatments for eating disorders, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, medical management, Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Analytic Therapy. Training course dates and other Section of Eating Disorders-organised events are posted on the IoP website What’s On page.

The Section’s research teams are based at the IoP and at Guy’s Hospital at London Bridge. They are led by Professor Ulrike Schmidt, based at the IoP, and Professor Janet Treasure, based at Guy’s.

Ulrike Schmidt is a Professor of Eating Disorders and a consultant psychiatrist. In addition to her research, she is in charge of SLaM’s outpatient eating disorders services based at the Maudsley Hospital.

Janet Treasure is a Professor of Psychiatry and a consultant psychiatrist who has specialised in the treatment of eating disorders for more than 20 years. She is chief medical advisor of beat and is director of SLaM’s inpatient unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital.

The Section has developed a website with information for people who have eating disorders, their families and friends, and for health professionals. Visit http://www.eatingresearch.com.

It also produces newsletters about its work on an ad hoc basis: pdfs of these are available on the Eating Disorders newsletters page.

The Section of Eating Disorders is in the Department of Psychological Medicine in the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry.

In the Section of Family Therapy, teaching is closely interwoven with research and clinical work. The IoP is the only centre in the UK that offers family therapy training on a full-time basis and students enrol from across the world.

Current training courses in family therapy include the Graduate Certificate in Family Therapy and the MSc in Family Therapy.

Both courses are accredited by the Association for Family Therapy and Systematic Practice (AFT) and the UK Council for Psychotherapy. The Graduate Certificate and MSc courses lead to a professional qualification and are available either full or part-time, though the part-time option is for employees of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) (both courses) and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (Graduate Certificate).

The Programme Leader for the family therapy training courses is Judith Lask, an experienced trainer and systemic family therapist. She is a past Chair of AFT and is currently the organisation’s Chair of Registration and representative to the European Family Therapy Association.

Students undertake all their supervised clinical training in NHS services, including the Adolescent Eating Disorders Service, which is run by Professor Ivan Eisler, who heads the Section of Family Therapy. The Adolescent Eating Disorders Service is well known for its evaluation of family therapy for eating disorders, and for the development of an intensive multiple family therapy treatment programme which receives referrals from across the country. Regular training programmes in multiple family therapy are organised jointly by the Section and the Adolescent Eating Disorders Service.

The main research focus of the Section has been the evaluation of psychological treatments for eating disorders, drug addiction, depression, chronic pain and adolescent self-harm. The Section works in close collaboration with the Section of Eating Disorders in the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry on the development of treatments for adolescents. The emphasis is on family therapy but some projects evaluate other psychological treatments – web-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for adolescents with bulimia nervosa, for example.

The Health Foundation is funding the Section’s current main study – a multi centre evaluation of multiple family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa. Other funders of research have included the Medical Research Council, the Leverhulme Foundation, the European Union and the Department of Health (DoH).

A new study being led by Section is funded by the DoH’s National Institute for Health Research and is one of seven projects to be undertaken as part of a £2 million programme grant award made to the Section of Eating Disorders for work to understand more about anorexia and translate that understanding into treatment. The Section of Family Therapy will carry out a service evaluation to find out whether the provision of specialist adolescent eating disorders outpatient clinics lead to an earlier identification of problems, fewer hospital admissions and better long term outcomes.

Prof. Eisler, a Professor of Family Psychology and Family Therapy, holds a joint appointment within both the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry and the Department of Psychology. He is editor of the Journal of Family Therapy and a member of the Academic and Research Committee of AFT.

Potential PhD students interested in carrying out research in the Section should contact him, i.eisler@iop.kcl.ac.uk.

Within the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, the Section of Family Therapy is part of the Department of Psychological Medicine.

Section of Family Therapy
Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, PO73
Institute of Psychiatry
De Crespigny Park
London SE5 8AF

Contact: Vaithehy Shanmugam
Email: Vaithehy.Shanmugam@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Phone: 020 7848 0926
Fax: 020 7848 0205

For more information about training courses in family therapy
Email: Familytherapy.admin@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Phone: 020 7848 0693

For more information about training in multiple family therapy
Contact: Pennie Faibairn
Email: pennie.fairbairn@slam.nhs.uk
Phone: 020 3228 2545

The main aim of our section is to examine the interactions between mind and body; the body and the mind. We examine this issue by looking at a very broad range of people with a variety of illnesses.

For example, some of our more recent research has looked at how a person's moods, thoughts and behaviours can affect how quickly he or she recovers from surgery or from glandular fever, or how well they cope with HIV or diabetes. We also have a particular interest in researching the causes and treatment of complex illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War illnesses and sensitivities to multiple chemicals or electromagnetic fields; illnesses which are often debilitating but which currently lack any adequate medical explanation. Our general approach is broadly epidemiological, using large cohorts such as service personnel from the Gulf War, birth cohorts or population cohorts, together with the results of randomised controlled trials of treatment of chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome and other related syndromes.

We also have an interest in the assessment of mental capacity in various settings. Staff may come from an epidemiological background, but we also include qualititative researchers, cognitive behavioural psychologists, historians and clinicians.

The King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is a joint initiative between the Division of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatry and the Department of War Studies in the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP)'s sister School of Social Science and Public Policy at King's College London.

The centre has three main strands of research: war and health; war and psychiatry; personnel issues and social policy. One of its major projects has been a prospective investigation of the physical and psychological health of a random sample of 20,000 UK service personnel, comparing those who have served in Iraq with those who did not. The centre continues to investigate this cohort, with the addition of a new sample of service personnel who have served in Afghanistan, looking at the physical, social and psychological aspects of military service in the 21st century.

The main focus of the research undertaken by the Section of Neuropsychiatry is memory disorder – ranging from amnesic syndromes as a result of head injury, stroke or brain disease, to different types of dementia, confabulation (false memories as a result of brain damage), other sorts of false memory and psychogenic amnesia.

The Section’s head, Professor Michael Kopelman, is internationally known for work in this field and is lead clinician at the Neuropsychiatry and Memory Disorders Clinic run by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). People from all over the country are referred to this specialist clinic.

Both the Clinic and the Section are based at St Thomas’ Hospital, facilitating close links between clinical practice and research work. Patients with memory disorders referred to the Clinic are, for example, currently participating in a trial to gauge the efficacy and viability of a Memory Aids Clinic, also at St Thomas’ Hospital. This project is funded by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity: other major funders of the Section’s research over the years include the The Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council.

The Section seeks to understand how memory works and why it malfunctions by recruiting people with memory disorders to take part in cognitive testing and brain imaging studies. MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanning is carried out at the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, jointly run by the IoP and SLaM on the Denmark Hill campus, while PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanning is carried out at St Thomas’ Hospital.

Research in the Section looks at memory disorders as a result of psychological as well as neurological causes. Collaborative work, for example, has been undertaken about false confessions for crime with Gisli Gudjonsson, Professor of Forensic Psychology at the IoP.

Professor Kopelman is co-editor of two reference books in the field of memory disorders: The Handbook of Memory Disorders, Second Edition, and The Essential Handbook of Memory Disorders for Clinicians, both published by John Wiley and Sons.

A past president of the British Neuropsychological Society, Professor Kopelman was a founder member of the Memory Disorders Research Society. This is a professional society dedicated to the study of memory and memory disorders, with members from the US, Canada, France, Germany and Italy as well as the UK.

Professor Kopelman is on the Executive Committee of the International Neuropsychiatric Association and has served on the Board of the International Neuropsychological Society.

He currently supervises three PhD students: any potential students with a particular interest in memory disorders who are interested in undertaking research in the Section should contact him, Michael.Kopelman@kcl.ac.uk.

The Section of Neuropsychiatry is part of the Department of Psychiatry within the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry.

Section of Neuropsychiatry
Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry
3rd Floor, Adamson Centre for Mental Health
South Wing
St Thomas’ Hospital
London SE1 7EH.

The section aims to improve knowledge and understanding about mental illness during pregnancy and postnatally. Research is undertaken into the causes, characteristics, identification, care and treatment of perinatal mental illness and into its effects on infants and children.

The first few weeks following delivery is a time of high risk for major psychiatric disorder. Women are at increased risk of suffering from an affective illness, particularly a psychotic illness, and women with pre-existing psychiatric disorders may face a relapse or recurrence of their condition following childbirth. Recent research suggests that women are as likely to become depressed during pregnancy as they are postnatally.