Psychological Medicine

Psychological Medicine carries out epidemiological, clinical and psychological research, including cross sectional studies, cohorts and randomised controlled trials.

 

The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is a joint initiative between the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry and the Department of War Studies in the IoP’s sister School of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s College London. Currently investigating (1) the impact of service in Iraq/Afghanistan on the physical and mental health of current and ex serving UK military personnel; (2) the mental health of personnel currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan; (3)pre and post operational stress management – Trauma Risk Management (TRIM), decompression, briefing, Battlemind, R and R; (4) informed choice, consent and the medium/long term side effects of anthrax

 

Perinatal Psychiatry and the Stress, Psychiatry and Immunology laboratory (SPI-Lab), seek to understand the body’s response to stress and whether it contributes to the manifestation of psychological symptoms - researchers seek to understand the body’s response to stress and whether it contributes to the manifestation of psychological symptoms. 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 and coronary heart disease.

 

The section of Eating Disorders  aims to find out more about the neurobiological, genetic and psychological causes of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders, and to use that knowledge to develop new and better treatments

 

Diabetes and Mental Health: This programme is jointly run with the Diabetes CAG. The main of this programme is first to understand the psychological, biological and social processes that lead to depression in diabetes and to worse biomedical outcomes and second to evaluate the effectiveness of psychopharmacological and innovative psychological and treatments for improving diabetes control as well as psychological functioning. South London Diabetes (SOUL-D): this is a NIHR funded cohort study of the effects of depression and other psychological factors on biomedical outcomes in nearly 2000 people with newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.Diabetes-6 (D6). This is an NIHR funded cluster randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of psychological treatment and diabetes care versus diabetes care delivered by practice nurses in improving glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, Inflammation, Diabetes Study: this is a European Federation for the Study of Diabetes funded study nested in SOUL-D which examines the effects of depression on the levels of inflammatory markers over 2 years.

Professor Amanda Ramirez leads on all academic activity relating to Cancer Research UK Promoting Early Presentation Groupstudies psychological and social aspects of cancer.

 

The main research focus of Family Therapy section has been the evaluation of psychological treatments for eating disorders, drug addiction, depression, chronic pain and adolescent self-harm.

 

The Chronic Fatigue Research and Treatment Unit is jointly run with King’s College Hospital: this national specialist service undertakes assessment, treatment and research. General Hospital Psychiatry researchers are involved, for example, in the MRC PACE Trial, the largest trial of treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME to date, which is testing the effectiveness of different therapies. Research into the contribution of neuroendocrinological and other neurobiological factors in CFS/ME is conducted with the Chronic Fatigue Research and Treatment Unit, a national specialist service run jointly by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Section of General Hospital Psychiatry.

 

The Section of Trauma Studies conducts research into the psychological consequences of mass trauma – including wars, political violence, torture and natural disasters – and develops effective treatments for survivors.

 

Mobile Phone Research Unit (Dr James Rubin) is looking at the reasons for sensitivity to mobile phones, including police radios, and the potential effects of mobile phone radiation on neuroendocrine systems. This work is funded by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme.

 

Other major research studies:

Health and social impact of chemical incidents: This is a longitudinal project conducted with the Health Protection Agency to measure the health and social impact of 280 chemical incidents (Dr Lisa Page) Mass Psychogenic Illness: This project has used data gathered on 280 chemical incidents to determine the frequency with which episodes of mass psychogenic illness occur. .  (3) Heat related mortality in serious mental illness: This project has used GPRD data that has been linked with mortality data from ONS and metereological data. 4) Swine flu: This project has used electronic patient records of patients under the care of secondary mental health services, to assess the impact of the swine flu epidemic during its first 3 months. 3. Public Information Responses After Terrorist Events (PIRATE). Funded by the European Commission) In collaboration with the Health Protection Agency and the University of Stuttgart, looks at likely public reactions to a range of hypothetical scenarios involving biological and radiological terrorism. This links to the NIHR funded fellowship (James Rubin) which is expanding previous work to establish a research infrastructure, so that when the next major public health incident occurs which involves a chemical, biological or radiological component, we are ready to study its psychological impact on the general population almost immediately.

 

Psychological Medicine as a Department and as part of the Clinical Academic Group (CAG) with the same name has a unique position within King’s Health Partners as crossing the divide between psychiatry and medicine. Professor’s Matthew Hotopf and Simon Wessely provide the academic leadership for the CAG.

 

The department is well known for a long standing programme of research into medically unexplained symptoms and syndromes, now led by Professor Trudie Chalder, and also into psychological aspects of physical illness, with programme grants covering both diabetes (Dr Khalida Ismail) and cancer (Professor Amanda Ramirez). In the past the department has played a major role in understanding the nature of and improving the management of many illnesses, including for example chronic fatigue syndrome. The first UK research unit dedicated to CFS and the first NHS treatment service both began within the department.

 

We are one of the major international centres specialising in military health from an occupational, epidemiological, social, historical and public health perspective. The Department has published widely on issues ranging from Gulf War Illness to the impact of serving in Iraq and/or Afghanistan on the health of serving and ex serving military personnel. As well as over 150 publications we have had policy impact in areas such as prevention of operational stress, the mental health of reservists, Forces Health Protection including vaccination, tour length, provision of mental health and policy towards ex service personnel (“veterans”).

 

The Department prides itself on its multi disciplinary approach. For example, KCMHR/ACDMH team includes both full time academics and also serving military personnel seconded from the Defence Medical Services. It has an emphasis on epidemiology and public health, but also includes a senior full time academic historian (Professor Edgar Jones).

 

Another interest is how populations react to adversity. We carried out rapid response research on behalf of several government departments and the Health Protection Agency which help shape policy on areas such as risk communication, crisis management and psychological support. 

 

King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is a unique partnership between the Department of Psychological Medicine and the Department of War Studies. The Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health (ACDMH) is a unique partnership between the Department and the Ministry of Defence. KCMHR also partners the Royal British Legion in looking at the health of UK ex service personnel.

 

We have strong links with the Health Protection Agency (HPA), and have collaborated on projects including impact of chemical incidents, population responses to the 2005 London bombs, the Litvinenko affair, swine flu and the threat from chemical/biological terrorism.

 

The Department is responsible for teaching psychiatry and psychology to medical students at King’s College London School of Medicine, one of the largest schools of medicine in the UK. The Division also runs postgraduate taught programmes: visit the Courses and teaching page for details of the MSc in War and Psychiatry; the MSc in Family Therapy; and the Graduate Certificate in Family Therapy.

 

Once a year, the Department organises training course for European psychiatrists, known as The Maudsley Forum. The Maudsley Forum offers psychiatry trainees and junior specialists with research interests the opportunity to learn about recent advances in psychiatry. A host of experts lead seminars and lecturers over the four day course: visit the Maudsley Forum pages to find out more information.

 

In addition to research and teaching activities, the Department organises a plethora of events each year to share its expertise with others working in the field as well as service users, carers and the general public. The regular Maudsley Debates, for example, have been held at the IoP since January 2000 and were the brainchild of Professor Robin Murray. There are up to three debates each year, open to the public, and topics are usually controversial. Visit the Events page to find out dates of Maudsley Debates or about other events organised by the Department. Past Maudsley Debates are available as podcasts.

 

Senior members of the department offer supervision to students wishing to undertake a Ph D – there are more than 40 Ph D students working within Psychological Medicine on a diverse range of projects. Potential Ph D students should visit the Education Support Team pages to find out more. Students from outside KCL wishing to undertake work in the area of military health should also read the guidance on the KCMHR web pages.

 

Finally, via the Vice Dean and Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry the department has an active role in undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatry education for the KCL School of Medicine, the IOP and the Maudsley.