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

As well as understanding the underlying causes of affective disorders, we strive to improve clinical treatments and patient outcomes through clinical trials, novel clinical assessment tools and translation of our research findings into novel treatments.

Our interest is not only in pharmacological therapies, but in psychological and behavioural therapies, self-management, neurostimulation, cognition, endocrine, microbiome and lifestyle approaches. Our ultimate goal is to develop a patient-centred and personalised treatment approach for all those with affective disorders.

Much of this work is carried out with patients at the National Affective Disorder and associated Treatment Services, 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 and bipolar disorder, as well as other conditions where there is a component of mood disorder, such as seasonal affective disorder, affective psychoses, chronic fatigue syndrome, neuropsychiatric and somatic symptom disorders.