The Centre for Affective Disorders (CfAD) is a centre of excellence dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of mood and anxiety disorders and translating these insights into novel risk prediction tools, treatments and their personalisation, including those based on psychological, pharmacological, neurocognitive, neuromodulation, and digital therapeutics.
The Centre was founded in 2013 under the exemplary leadership of its founding director, Professor Allan Young, who stepped down from this role in 2024. Under his inaugural leadership, CfAD has become one of the most innovative and exciting hubs for clinicians and researchers passionate about affective disorders, drawing interest from across the globe. Professor Young continues to retain a link as the Emeritus Director of CfAD, whilst Professor Anthony Cleare and Professor Roland Zahn have stepped up as Joint Directors since 2025.
CfAD has brought together a number of world-leading clinician scientists and professors at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, including former Co-Director, Professor Anthony Cleare, alongside Professor Andre Tylee, now an Emeritus, and Professor Carmine Pariante. Since then, the CfAD academic faculty has grown and expanded into new areas such as psychedelics and psychotherapy, as well as translational cognitive neuroscience and phenomenological psychopathology. Given that affective disorders overlap with many other areas of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry and medicine, CfAD members collaborate with colleagues throughout King’s College London and beyond and have established a network of affiliates.
CfAD also hosts the International Society for Affective Disorders (President: Professor Anthony Cleare) and the World Psychiatric Association Section for Affective Disorders.
Our education mission is embodied by the MSc in Affective Disorders, a unique specialist and interdisciplinary course giving equal weight to biology and psychology, that has repeatedly won awards for student satisfaction. For more than a decade now, our alumni have become important advocates for the waning art of differential diagnosis and research-driven, inter-disciplinary and transcultural clinical practice. Our course equips the next generation of affective disorder specialists with the necessary knowledge and skills.
If you would like to participate in our studies, please sign up here.
If you would like to access assessment/test instruments or tools developed by CfAD, please get in touch with the corresponding author or find open access materials here:
- Maudsley Staging Model
- Maudsley-modified PHQ-9
- Maudsley Visual Analogue Scale
- dCVnet clinical prediction modelling tool
CfAD is closely linked with the Maudsley Affective Disorders Treatment Services led by Dr James Rucker, where we seek to provide access to specialist advice and treatment to local patients (within the Maudsley Advanced Treatment Service, led by Professor Juruena and OPTIMA, led by Dr Karine Macritchie and shown to reduce hospital readmissions for bipolar patients) as well as those referred nationally within the National Affective Disorders service (led by Professor Anthony Cleare).
Our experts by lived experience help shape our research and can be engaged for specific studies, if you would like to get involved, please get in touch with principal investigators of studies you are interested in.
We are grateful to the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre for the NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration for Mood Disorders for supporting CfAD among many other funders. This allows CfAD to be at the forefront of trials of novel treatments for affective disorders.
Our research areas
Affective Disorders Research Group led by Professor Anthony Cleare
Professor Cleare is Professor of Psychopharmacology & Affective Disorders, and leads the Affective Disorders Research Group, which 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.
Professor Rina Dutta’s lab’s research interests include suicide, self-harm, causes of premature mortality, mental and physical co-morbidities, and the use of datasets for clinical research. Rina is a Clinician Scientist Fellow of the Health Foundation in partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences. Her current 5-year research programme is e-HOST-IT: Electronic health records to predict HOspitalised Suicide attempts: Targeting Information Technology solutions.
Professor Cynthia Fu’s lab centres on identifying biomarkers to improve classification in mood disorders and to predict treatment response at the individual level and the development of novel treatments. Our NIMH COORDINATE-MDD consortium is leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify biomarkers and predictors of treatment response from complex multidimensional neuroimaging data sets. In the development of novel treatments grounded in mechanistic understanding, our NIHR clinical trials are investigating neuromodulation treatments in unipolar depression (NIHR165425 HOME) and bipolar depression (NIHR167361 BDEP). Our Rosetrees Trust-funded study in adolescent depression, integrates psychoanalytic perspectives and neuroscience for personalised treatment approaches.
Professor Mario Juruena is a Professor of Translational Psychiatry, and leads the Maudsley Advance Treatment Service- MATS, which works to develop new treatments for treatment-resistant depression and treatment-resistant bipolar disorder. His lab seeks to understand the essential triggers of treatment-resistant affective disorders, and improve clinical treatments and patient response, developing clinical trials for new targets in pharmacotherapy and neuromodulation, novel clinical assessment tools and translation of our research findings into novel treatments. His lab has been interested in developing biomarkers, genetics, neuroimage and neuroendocrine factors, running this Translational Psychiatry Research Programme, he has been studying the connections between stress, mainly early life stress, the neuroendocrine axis and impaired cognition in treatment-resistant affective disorders.
Professor Valeria Mondelli’s lab focuses on the interaction between biological and psychosocial risk factors in the development of psychiatric disorders with a specific focus on depression. More specifically, we study the role of inflammation, cortisol, and other hormones and their interaction with stressful experiences in early life in the development of depression in both adolescents and adults. Our aim is to develop personalised and more effective prevention and treatment strategies for depression, guided by biomarker and psychosocial factors profiles. More information about past and current research studies in the lab can be found on the lab’s website.
Dr Susannah Pick’s lab focuses primarily on investigating causes and mechanisms underlying neurological, affective, and dissociative symptoms, as well as exploring interactions between these symptom types. We use a range of methodologies, including clinical measures, lab-based experiments, psychophysiology, neuroimaging, digital remote monitoring technologies, and qualitative techniques. We adopt a transdiagnostic approach in our work, which includes individuals with a range of clinical diagnoses, such as functional neurological disorder (FND), dissociative disorders (e.g., depersonalisation-derealisation, dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia), post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy). More information can be found on the lab’s website.
Dr James Rucker’s lab focuses on clinical trials using the drugs such as psilocybin (‘magic’ mushrooms), LSD (‘acid’) the empathogen MDMA (‘ecstasy’), cathinones (e.g. methylone) and the cannabinoids as treatments for resistant forms of mood, anxiety and trauma response problems in combination with psychotherapy. The lab is called the Psychoactive Trials Group’ (PTG) and is formed of research assistants, junior psychiatrists, psychological therapists, PhD students, and research nurses, who undertake recruitment, assessment, dosing and follow up. We operate many of our trials at The Centre for Mental Health Research and Innovation, which is a bespoke clinical trials centre developed specifically for psilocybin therapy. We also investigate the causes and consequences of recreational use of these drugs, and the basic molecular and neuroimaging mechanisms associated with psychedelics. We are also interested to understand what these treatments might look like in the real world if they were licensed. How would they be safely and effectively delivered to patients, and how would the obvious risks be mitigated? We liaise with the Royal Colleges, the UK Psychotherapy Bodies, the MHRA and the UK Government in the pursuit of these questions. The PTG also organises a series of public facing events, patient surveys and engagement exercises to build a case for new clinical trials investigating the paradigm of drug-assisted therapy in a wide range of psychiatric problems, e.g. functional neurological disorders, eating disorders, PTSD, anxiety disorders, palliative care scenarios, chronic pain and other disorders at the interface of psychiatry, neurology and the rest of medicine. The overall aim of the PTG is to inform the evidence base surrounding the medical utility of drugs that, hitherto, have been under-investigated due to legal restrictions and stigma, but were previously used in medicine and often have a long history of use in various cultures and societies.
Professor Paul Stokes’ lab uses MRI neuroimaging to understand the brain mechanisms underlying reward and cognitive symptoms in mood disorders, and to identify how potential new treatments effect brain function. We evaluate the best ways of treating mood disorders by using clinical trials and meta-analyses methodologies and have a particular interest in treatment-resistant bipolar depression and addiction co-morbidity. Finally, we use the CRIS clinical record system to understand the diagnostic differences (for example unipolar mania) and treatment challenges experienced by people with mood disorders.
Dr Rebecca Strawbridge’s lab: Our group focuses on improving care for people with affective disorders through high-quality evidence synthesis and targeted clinical research. We conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses to identify the gaps in care, the most effective treatments and predictors of response, supporting more personalised approaches to care. A major area of interest is lithium treatment, where we investigate its mechanisms, potential new indications, and strategies to enhance adherence, safety and long-term outcomes. Our team brings together pre-doctoral researchers, clinicians, post-doctoral researchers, MSc and PhD students, working collaboratively with a goal to translate research into meaningful improvements in affective health.
Stress, Psychiatry and Immunology Lab and Perinatal Psychiatry Section led by Professor Carmine Pariante
Professor Pariante is Professor of Biological Psychiatry and a Consultant for the Liaison Perinatal Psychiatry Services at King’s College Hospital. Professor Pariante and many members of the Group are based in the Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Centre.
The Stress, Psychiatry and Immunology Lab and Perinatal Psychiatry (SPI-Lab) Research Group, seek to understand the body’s response to stress and whether it contributes to the manifestation of psychological symptoms. The overall aim is to understand the relationship between physical and mental health, for the enhancement of both.
The research spans a variety of clinical settings, with a particular emphasis on clinical conditions where there are prominent changes in stress hormones, such as women in the perinatal period (and their infants), depression, first-episode psychosis, and patients with medical disorders such as viral hepatitis, coronary heart disease and chronic fatigue.
Moreover, the group and the laboratory have a strong emphasis on biological and molecular research relevant to mental health, using both biological samples derived from patients’ populations and experimental laboratory models.
Professor Roland Zahn’s lab focuses on the translational cognitive neuroscience of affective disorders by employing methods including phenomenological psychopathology, mobile technology, virtual reality, neuropsychology, neuroimaging and their links with neurochemistry, neuromodulation, neurofeedback, machine learning-based prediction modelling, as well as computerised decision support systems. The overall aim is to use cognitive-anatomical models of organic and non-organic mood disorders to develop novel personalised treatments, algorithms, and diagnostic systems
Professor Patricia Zunszain’s group research interests comprise the interface between neuroscience, mental health and wellbeing, with a focus on postgraduate education.
Collaborators
Beyond academics in the Department of Psychological Medicine, CfAD also comprises a wider network of affiliated members with expertise in affective disorders from across departments and schools within the IoPPN, including the for example the Department of Psychology & the Department of Child and Adult Psychiatry.
Professor Jaime Delgadillo’s lab: Using methods from the fields of precision medicine and machine learning, Prof Delgadillo focuses on the development of personalized treatment selection and adaptation strategies for psychotherapy. He has led some of the pioneering clinical trials of stratified care for depression and feedback-informed treatment in NHS psychological therapy services. His current research is developing methods to match patients to therapists, treatments, and alternative doses and sequences of evidence-based interventions for affective and anxiety disorders.
Dr Clementine Edwards’ lab: Our research examines the mechanisms underlying a reduced experience of pleasure (anhedonia) and how these may differ or overlap across psychosis and depression. We explore phenomenology through qualitative interviews of individuals and carers. We are applying machine learning approaches to large datasets to identify dysfunctional patterns in affect, activity and pleasure in daily life which can be targeted with impactful interventions. The current programme of work is funded by Wellcome and utilises technology including smartphone applications, wearables and virtual reality to improve measurement of pleasure “in-the-moment" and therefore identify processes underlying anhedonia.
Professor Colette Hirsch’s lab
Professor Cathryn Lewis’s lab: The Statistical Genetics Unit, focusses on identifying the genomic predictors of depression, from risk to prognosis to response to treatment. She led the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium for six years, identifying over 600 novel genetic associations associated with depression. She leads the AMBER study (Antidepressant Medications: Biology, Exposure & Response) that aims to identify the causal determinants of antidepressant response using informatic, genomic and cellular approaches, and working closely with people with lived experience.
Dr Toby Wise’s lab: Our research uses methods from computational neuroscience to understand how we learn and make decisions, and to explore how these decision-making processes are involved in common mental health problems like anxiety and depression. We are based in the Department of Neuroimaging within the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London and are funded by Wellcome. More information can be found on the lab’s website.
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