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On a Sunday evening in August this year, I was on my first on-call shift as a trainee psychiatrist in a leafy psychiatric hospital. After a day of walking between old buildings which had been converted into wards, tending to patients’ mental and physical health needs, I decided to have dinner on the grounds.

In mental health services, clinicians write thousands of notes every day. These records capture the details of people’s lives: how they feel, what they struggle with and how they respond to treatment. Hidden within these words is an enormous amount of knowledge about mental health but most of it has never been analysed in a systematic way.

Depression is a complex condition. We know its symptoms well, but we still do not fully understand what happens in the body when someone is depressed. Also, not all individuals with depression are the same, and this diversity may arise from differences in biology – the many bodily processes that constantly shape the way we are and behave.

I am a current PhD student at UCL and Research Fellow with the UK Trauma Council. I was previously a Research Assistant working on the Adolescence Mental Health and the Developing Mind (AMHDM) ReThink Programme. My work explores how experiences of early adversity (especially care experience) shape mental health, and how research can meaningfully involve those it aims to serve. I wrote this blog to reflect on the "Adolescence, mental health and the developing mind" (AMHD) “Spe

Why is the use of antidepressants so controversial, and how could we prescribe them more effectively? This question is a priority in my research at King’s College London, where I work as professor of statistical genetics. My academic background is in statistics, and I am passionate about using genetics to improve the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions.  Together with people with lived experience of depression, my research team integrates clinical and biologic

Writer’s note: This article has been co-written by Courtney Worrell and Tony Woods It has long been said that art is good for our health, but we didn’t know much about how or why. So, this summer, we set up shop in front of the likes of Van Gogh and Manet at the Courtauld Gallery in London to look at the science behind this relationship and explore how the body really responds to viewing art. Spoiler alert – what we found was very, very interesting.   Vincent Van Gogh’s Sel

My name is Pierrette, and I am a Master's student studying Neuroscience at King's College London. A few months ago, I was introduced to the concept of the brain's "dark energy" during a lecture on neuroimaging. Deeply interested in this topic, I began to wonder about the origin and nature of consciousness and questioned whether the awareness of oneself resides in the body, or if our mind and body are two separate entities that converge to make us human. Photo by Shawn Day on

First Episode Psychosis (FEP) refers to the first experience of psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions. I am a final-year psychiatry trainee with a long-standing interest in both FEP and gender-specific medicine, now working in a specialized early intervention service in Northern Italy.

Why are some young people still missing from mental health research and what can we do to change that? Hi, I’m Rachel Perowne, a PhD researcher and I’m passionate about making youth mental health research more inclusive. I believe that the best way to achieve this is to involve young people in a meaningful way in the research process. Together with my supervisors and colleagues, including three young co-researchers, I recently published a systematic review exploring the barr

Every human being begins life as a single cell.  That cell divides, multiplies, and transforms into many different types of cells — muscle, nerve, skin, blood, bone, and so on — until, somehow, a complete body emerges. But this transformation raises one of biology’s oldest and most fascinating questions: how do cells know what to become?

I am Dr Rebecca Bind, a Postdoctoral Research Associate working in the Perinatal section of the Stress, Psychiatry and Immunology Lab at The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. Most recently I managed a clinical trial for mothers with postnatal depression called SHAPER-PND, the results from which have just been published and I will discuss below.

My research in mental health and neuroscience is fuelled by a deep curiosity about how the world around us, everything from our...

A researcher’s perspective In recent years, cannabis has become a hot topic, from recreational legalisation debates to discussions about medical applications. But beyond its social and legislative implications, there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that cannabis use might be linked to severe mental health disorders, including psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Understanding these associations is crucial as cannabis consumption rises worldwi

I’m a 39-year-old neuroscience and psychology graduate, freshly finished with my MSc at King’s College London. My story begins in 2020,...

Sleep is incredibly important – for everyone. We all know the impact of a good night’s sleep: it can set us up for a great day or make everything feel more difficult. But, most of us recover quickly from a bad night; we go to bed earlier, learn from last night's late-night scrolling, or we (wishfully) ask our partner to learn the art of not snoring. However, this is not the case for people with bipolar disorder. Or at least – it doesn’t appear so.

The 19th Century French psychiatrist Jacques-Joseph Moreau is often credited as one of the first scientists to systematically study the effects of psychoactive substances on the mind.

Disclaimer:   This blog does not promote or endorse the use of illegal substances. It is intended solely to explore the growing body of research investigating the potential role of psychedelics in innovative mental health treatments. Please be aware that the recreational use of psychedelics is illegal in many countries. These substances should only be used within the legal framework of your country and under the guidance of a qualified clinical professional.   What if healing

A new health literacy programme in East London aims to improve pregnancy experiences for women who don’t speak English. In the United...

As the Programme Lead for the MSc Neuroscience at King’s College, I often engage with students. When I speak with our MSc Neuroscience ...

From lithium's (re)discovery to a gold standard in treatment: how an Australian psychiatrist's bold experiment reshaped psychiatry Photo...

Creating space for survivors of abuse: in a one-day workshop on coercive control, we explored what it means to reflect, create, and...

The path through mental illness can be isolating, disorienting, and equally profoundly transformative. For those of us who have navigated...

When someone receives a cancer diagnosis, the emotional and psychological toll can be just as profound as the physical journey ahead....

Scientists often dive into research driven by two magic ingredients: caffeine and curiosity. Caffeine keeps us awake, and curiosity motivates us to solve complex questions and to push the boundaries of human knowledge. Locked away in labs, scientists work tirelessly to test hypotheses in all different areas of science. Unfortunately, many discoveries feel like they stay confined to publications, adding lines to a CV or increasing a citation index, rarely making it beyond