Research

Mental health

The aim of the Mental Health Research Group it to gain a better understanding of the causes and consequences of mental health problems, and to develop and evaluate novel treatments. The interaction between bio-psycho-social-developmental factors in mental health problems increasingly informs our programmes. Core group members include academics with backgrounds in psychiatry and clinical psychology, who collaborate with academics from a range of disciplines, given our commitment to inter-disciplinary research to influence healthcare and policy. Our research portfolio is firmly within identified NHS priority needs, and we work closely with support networks ensuring that views of research consumers, service-users and carers are recognised.

The Mental Health Research Group comprises two well established research programmes, each with two cognate themes:

• Psychobiological systems (Leader Professor Colin Espie)
  • Behavioural and experimental medicine
  • Neuropsychology
• Psychosocial systems (Leader Professor Sally-Ann Cooper)
  • Psychosocial interventions
  • Developmental

The programmes have considerable synergy. They, and their cognate themes, represent the vertical research structure, with a range of investigative methodologies applied laterally across the themes, including behavioural observation, psychometric testing, human performance measurement, neuroimaging, epidemiology, and clinical trials. These are complemented by our laboratory facilities.

The majority of our research awards are from the MRC/ESRC, Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Executive Health Department, and Department of Health, London, with a 250% growth in their value from 2001/2 to 2006/7. We actively train PhD/MD students to develop a new cadre of academic leaders in mental health, and are progressively increasing student numbers. Our Doctoral students have subsequently progressed to post-doctoral Fellowships and academic appointments both at the University of Glasgow, and other Universities, and apply their research skills within health care settings, contributing to the NHS research infrastructure. Additionally, high quality research training is central to our Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, evidenced by the 127 graduates since 2001 producing 54 peer-reviewed publications from dissertations integrated within our cognate research themes.

Academic /research staff contributing to this theme