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Dr Katherine S. Young
Dr Katherine S. Young

Dr Katherine Young PhD

Visiting Lecturer

Research interests

  • Mental Health
  • Psychiatry

Biography

Dr Katherine S. Young is an NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre Lecturer based in the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London. Her background is in neuroscience, experimental and clinical psychology. Her translational research focuses on using neuroscientific techniques (e.g., neuroimaging, psychophysiology, cognitive testing) to better understand the development and maintenance of anxiety and depression, as well as to improve our mechanistic understanding of psychological treatments for these mental health problems. Her current work focuses on depression (particularly symptoms of ‘anhedonia’) in adolescents.  

Dr Young completed her both her BA in Psychology and Physiology and DPhil in Psychiatry at Oxford University. Her doctoral research focused on examining behavioural and neural responses to infant social cues, and how these processes may become disrupted in postnatal depression. She moved to the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2014 for a postdoctoral position with Prof. Michelle Craske. Here, her work took a broader focus, examining neural correlates of anxiety and depression as well as the effects psychological treatments have on brain functioning. She returned to the UK in 2018 to take up a BRC Lectureship based at the SGDP Centre. 

Research interests:

  • Anxiety and depression  
  • Neuroimaging (fMRI and M/EEG) 
  • Behavioural/cognitive testing 
  • Peripheral psychophysiology 
  • Mechanisms of psychological interventions 
  • Adolescence 

Teaching:

Abnormal Psychology; Research methods in Infants and Children 

Expertise and Public Engagement:

Dr Young has been previously been involved with public engagement with science, contributing to articles in various newspapers about the biological basis of parenting (e.g., New York Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Times), and during her doctoral studies contributed to a Channel 4 TV programme called ‘Bedtime Live’. She is currently a consultant for a BBC TV drama under development about the future of technology and mental health in adolescents. 

    Research

    FLARe: Fear Learning and Anxiety Response

    FLARe aims to model the processes underlying the development, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders, and post-treatment relapse.

    Project status: Ongoing

    RAMP study logo promo
    Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics (RAMP)

    The Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics (RAMP) study is a research project assessing the effect of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

    News

    Fellows award for Dr Katherine Young for work on the mental health of young people during and after the pandemic

    A grant from MQ Mental Health Research will fund vital new studies into depression and anxiety in young people during and after the COVID-19 pandemic by Dr...

    Young woman wearing a face mask looking back at the camera

      Research

      FLARe: Fear Learning and Anxiety Response

      FLARe aims to model the processes underlying the development, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders, and post-treatment relapse.

      Project status: Ongoing

      RAMP study logo promo
      Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics (RAMP)

      The Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics (RAMP) study is a research project assessing the effect of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

      News

      Fellows award for Dr Katherine Young for work on the mental health of young people during and after the pandemic

      A grant from MQ Mental Health Research will fund vital new studies into depression and anxiety in young people during and after the COVID-19 pandemic by Dr...

      Young woman wearing a face mask looking back at the camera