About the Institute for Mental Health

No other health condition matches mental illness in the combined extent of prevalence, persistence and breadth of impact.

Approximately 75% of lifelong mental health disorders begin before the age of 24. With mental health disorders in young people and adolescents increasing, the focus of the Institute for Mental Health will be to improve the care of young people with mental health problems and to improve the services available to them.

Birmingham Heroes: Professor Matthew Broome talks Youth Mental Health

The Institute for Mental Health (IMH) has been established to maximise the collaborative efforts of academics at the University of Birmingham, and builds on the strong existing partnerships with practice in the NHS; established through Birmingham Health Partners, Forward Thinking Birmingham, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Through interdisciplinary research the IMH works to improve the outcomes and care for young people with mental health problems. We will do this by working together to understand the causes of poor mental health, prevent mental health problems from developing, and respond to established illness by developing new treatments and services.

Research Outputs

Article

Hoheisel, L, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Wenzel, J, Haas, SS, Antonucci, LA, Ruef, A, Penzel, N, Schultze-Lutter, F, Lichtenstein, T, Rosen, M, Dwyer, DB, Salokangas, RKR, Lencer, R, Brambilla, P, Borgwardt, S, Wood, SJ, Upthegrove, R, Bertolino, A, Ruhrmann, S, Meisenzahl, E, Koutsouleris, N, Fink, GR, Daun, S & Kambeitz, J 2024, 'Alterations of Functional Connectivity Dynamics in Affective and Psychotic Disorders', Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.02.013

Casetta, C, Santosh, P, Bayley, R, Bisson, J, Byford, S, Dixon, C, Drake, RJ, Elvins, R, Emsley, R, Fung, N, Hayes, D, Howes, O, James, A, James, K, Jones, R, Killaspy, H, Lennox, B, Marchant, L, McGuire, P, Oloyede, E, Rogdaki, M, Upthegrove, R, Walters, J, Egerton, A & MacCabe, JH 2024, 'CLEAR – clozapine in early psychosis: study protocol for a multi-centre, randomised controlled trial of clozapine vs other antipsychotics for young people with treatment resistant schizophrenia in real world settings', BMC Psychiatry, vol. 24, no. 1, 122. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05397-1

Shenton, BDK, Chung, JCY & Woodcock, KA 2024, 'Characterising the behaviours in most severe and least severe emotional outbursts in young people', Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, 2957. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52732-x

Koerner, S, Staginnus, M, Cornwell, H, Smaragdi, A, González-Madruga, K, Pauli, R, Rogers, JC, Gao, Y, Chester, S, Townend, S, Bernhard, A, Martinelli, A, Kohls, G, Raschle, NM, Konrad, K, Stadler, C, Freitag, CM, De Brito, SA & Fairchild, G 2024, 'Does the Relationship between Age and Brain Structure Differ in Youth with Conduct Disorder?', Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01178-w

Bilello, D, Townsend, E, Broome, M & Burnett Heyes, S 2024, 'Friendship and self-harm: A retrospective qualitative study of young adults' experiences of supporting a friend who self-harmed during adolescence', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1221661. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1221661