I have always been interested in the brain and the mind, and how we perceive and understand the world around us.<\/p>\n
I could have gone into more basic research about how the brain processes information, or how neurons work but found it much more interesting to work on a subject that has clear relevance to people and has the potential to help improve people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m always inspired by my colleagues in the department. Every day I am amazed by the work that is done here, and everyone\u2019s determination to better understand some of the big problems in mental health and brain disorders.<\/p>\n
Currently, I am working on movement and coordination problems in children with the genetic variant 22q11.2 deletion. About 1 in 4,000 people have the deletion and it is associated with many physical health issues like a poor immune system, thyroid problems, heart problems, a cleft palate, along with many others. In addition, it increases the risk that an individual will develop mental health problems such as anxiety, ADHD, and autism.<\/p>\n
It is also one of the strongest genetic risk factors that we know of for the development of schizophrenia, with about a quarter of people with the deletion developing a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. We don\u2019t know why only one quarter will develop schizophrenia, and much of the research the lab I am a member of is trying to identify what other factors, apart from the deletion, affect the risk for developing mental health problems.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, we began thinking that difficulties with movement and coordinated movement in childhood might be something that would increase risk, or even be an early marker of later problems. My research has found that lots of children (maybe as much as 80 %) with the deletion have difficulties with coordination, but many families do not get help for their child\u2019s coordination difficulties.<\/p>\n
While not a clinician myself, a large part of my work is trying to inform clinicians about the deletion and the symptoms that are associated with it so that they can give the best advice and treatment to patients. Coordination problems are under-researched and under recognised in people with the deletion, so I am trying to get the message out that this is something to be aware of.<\/p>\n
Over the past few years, I think people have become much more comfortable talking about mental health, which is undeniably a good thing. I also think people are becoming generally more aware of the importance of mental health, not only for themselves but for their friends and family, so are more likely to try and help if they notice someone might be having a hard time.<\/p>\n
Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n At the moment, I think the key challenges in mental health research are funding and capitalising on the renewed and increasing interest in the field. Second, I think we need to improve our diagnostic techniques and processes, as many current diagnoses are restrictive. Co-occurring symptoms and problems are very common, and not dealt with well with current diagnostic processes.<\/p>\n There is a movement towards focusing on dimensional classification of symptoms that may help, but ideally, we would want to be diagnosing mental health disorders based on a biological problem or cause, as we do for most physical health problems like diabetes or heart disease. Finally, I think developing new treatments, both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical, and refining when it is best to use a certain treatment is extremely important.<\/p>\n Any advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n For those starting out in their career in mental health research remember to keep an open mind. Opportunities can come from unexpected places.<\/p>\n Make sure your research is grounded in some way by what patients might want or need. Try and engage with patient and clinical networks to get the results of your research to who will need and use it. It can be easy to lose sight of why we are doing our research.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have always been interested in the brain and the mind, and how we perceive and understand the world around us. I could have gone into more basic research about […]","protected":false},"author":1586,"featured_media":1564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diagnosis-treatments-well-being","category-genetics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7swiU-pc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1323,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/mental-health-research-the-future-beckons\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":0},"title":"Mental Health research \u2013 the future beckons","author":"Professor Jeremy Hall","date":"16 October 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Mental ill health \u2013 a national emergency Mental ill health is a national crisis. Every year one in four people in the UK suffer from a mental health problem, with huge impact on the individual, their family and society. Mental health problems are one of the largest causes of sickness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adult mental health"","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/10\/mental-1831391_1280.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/10\/mental-1831391_1280.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/10\/mental-1831391_1280.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/10\/mental-1831391_1280.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/10\/mental-1831391_1280.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":908,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/does-parkinsons-disease-start-in-the-stomach\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":1},"title":"Does Parkinson\u2019s disease start in the stomach?","author":"Dr Emma Yhnell","date":"16 December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) is a progressive condition that affects the brain, around 1 in 500 people are affected by PD in the UK. In PD, some of the cells in the brain die and this causes less of a chemical called dopamine. PD also causes the build-up of a protein\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "genetics"","block_context":{"text":"genetics","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/genetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/12\/Chalk-illustration-of-abdomen.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/12\/Chalk-illustration-of-abdomen.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/12\/Chalk-illustration-of-abdomen.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/12\/Chalk-illustration-of-abdomen.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/12\/Chalk-illustration-of-abdomen.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/12\/Chalk-illustration-of-abdomen.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":571,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/what-has-neuroscience-ever-done-for-psychaitry\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":2},"title":"What has neuroscience ever done for psychiatry?","author":"Professor Jeremy Hall","date":"14 July 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Psychiatry has a problem. I love my profession of psychiatry, but one of the reasons I entered this most fascinating branch of medicine was because it seemed clear to me that it had problems and would see change in my lifetime. What then, is the problem with psychiatry? Well, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adult mental health"","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Modern-examination-in-the-hospital-Edit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Modern-examination-in-the-hospital-Edit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Modern-examination-in-the-hospital-Edit.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Modern-examination-in-the-hospital-Edit.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Modern-examination-in-the-hospital-Edit.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Modern-examination-in-the-hospital-Edit.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1680,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/meet-the-researcher-professor-jeremy-hall\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":3},"title":"Meet the Researcher – Professor Jeremy Hall","author":"Professor Jeremy Hall","date":"10 June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Why did you choose to do research into mental health? I was influenced by two things. The first was a fascination with the brain. The second was the obvious need to improve treatments for people with mental health problems. I was also convinced that this was the area of medicine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "autism spectrum conditions"","block_context":{"text":"autism spectrum conditions","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/autism-spectrum-conditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/Jeremy_Hall_200x200_new.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":729,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/why-we-use-animals-in-mental-health-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":4},"title":"Why we use animals in mental health research","author":"Dr William Davies","date":"5 October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The problems with studying psychiatric disorders Understanding the causes of mental health conditions, and understanding how to remedy them, is a difficult business. This is for two major reasons: firstly, there is considerable variability within patients with regard to their symptoms, their lifestyles, their medication regimes, and their social circumstances\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adult mental health"","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black laboratory mouse sits on gloved male hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Mouse-in-lab.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Mouse-in-lab.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Mouse-in-lab.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Mouse-in-lab.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Mouse-in-lab.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Mouse-in-lab.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/schizophrenia-from-new-brain-cells-to-the-immune-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":5},"title":"Schizophrenia: from new brain cells to the immune system","author":"Niels Haan","date":"8 June 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We still don\u2019t really know much about one of the most common psychiatric diseases \u2013 schizophrenia. However, my research, and that of many others, shows things such as neurogenesis (formation of new neurons) and the immune system are all involved in this challenging condition. Genetic risk for schizophrenia Schizophrenia is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "schizophrenia"","block_context":{"text":"schizophrenia","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/schizophrenia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/06\/Hippocampal-stem-cells-which-generate-new-neurons-growing-in-a-dish-in-the-lab.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/06\/Hippocampal-stem-cells-which-generate-new-neurons-growing-in-a-dish-in-the-lab.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/06\/Hippocampal-stem-cells-which-generate-new-neurons-growing-in-a-dish-in-the-lab.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/06\/Hippocampal-stem-cells-which-generate-new-neurons-growing-in-a-dish-in-the-lab.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/06\/Hippocampal-stem-cells-which-generate-new-neurons-growing-in-a-dish-in-the-lab.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/09\/Adam-Cunningham.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1563,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562\/revisions\/1563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}