IMH Symposium Youth Mental Health

Unexplored Angles in Psychosis

School Research & Impact Event - Symposium Youth Mental Health
Friday 16 September, 13:00 - 14:30
Venue - G16 (Lecture Theatre 1), 52 Pritchatts Road

Emma Černis: Dissociation: What is it? And why should we care about it?
Dissociation is gaining increasing attention online and rapidly becoming a buzzword on social media. Yet, decades of debate and confusion have left mental health professionals and researchers with mixed opinions and scarce information about depersonalisation, derealisation, and other dissociative experiences. So, what is dissociation? And what should we know about it? In this presentation, Dr Emma Černis will outline some of her recent Wellcome Trust funded research into dissociation arising in the context of psychosis: including how it can be recognised, conceptualised, and measured. Emma will also explain why she believes everyone working in mental health should start paying attention to this long-neglected area.

Isabel Morales-Muñoz: The role of sleep as a risk factor for developing psychosis
Gaining insight into understanding how sleep problems might precede or cause psychotic symptoms in a vulnerable group of the population is essential for identifying high risk groups, and this will allow early interventions to be developed and prevent a worse outcome of the disease. In this talk, Dr Isabel Morales-Muñoz aims to synthesise the available research exploring sleep in psychosis, with two key research questions: 1) What is the nature of the associations between sleep and psychosis? and 2) Is there a causal relationship between sleep and psychosis? To do this, Isabel will present studies focusing on three main areas: 1) longitudinal cohort studies; 2) sleep restriction manipulation studies; and 3) sleep intervention paradigms. Finally, Isabel will discuss current gaps in the literature and future lines of research.

Maria Dauvermann: The combined role of psychological and biological risk factors on developing psychosis
Both psychological and biological risk factors have been repeatedly related to greater likelihood of developing psychosis. However, such evidence is mostly based on crosssectional studies in adults with psychosis focussing on the study of one single risk factor. In this talk, Dr Maria Dauvermann will provide an overview of findings suggesting a role of psychological (i.e., childhood adversity) and biological (i.e., neurobiological) risk factors on the early and established stages of psychosis. Maria will present current and future projects on characterising neurobiological processes that may underlie behavioural and cognitive difficulties using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy integrated with stress and immune responses in individuals with psychosis. Finally, Maria will discuss how such an interdisciplinary approach may optimise early identification, prevention and treatment in individuals with psychosis.