Mechanisms of Mental Health

• 
  Head of Lab
  Dr Caitlin Hitchcock

  Caitlin.hitchcock@unimelb.edu.au

  View researcher's webpage

Research Overview

Treatment of mental health issues has not improved in decades, despite our scientific understanding of the mechanisms which drive mental ill health being the best that it has ever been.

Led by Dr Caitlin Hitchcock, our research group works across the research trajectory to translate our basic science understanding of the mechanisms which predict and maintain psychological difficulties into innovative mental health interventions. Our program spans from experimental work, which elucidates how cognitive processes promote psychological disturbance, to trials of novel psychological interventions. We have a particular interest in the transdiagnostic cognitive mechanisms which predict the primary onset of mental illness and response to psychological interventions.

With members based at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, and the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, we work in a global context to improve mental health interventions. We work closely with Australian and international treatment services to ensure that the latest research advances are used to inform clinical practice, and to increase access to evidence-based treatment in underserved communities.

Staff

• 
  Dou Hong, Research Assistant
• 
  Steph Raad, Honours student
• 
  Patrick Haylock, Masters student

  Patrick Haylock

  

  Patrick Haylock is completing a Masters in Psychology (Clinical Psychology). He is researching the relationship between young people's ability to recall different types of autobiographical memories, and their ability to solve problems, regulate their emotions and socialise with others.

• 
  Maris Vainre, PhD student

  Maris Vainre

  

  Maris is a visiting PhD student from the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge. She is interested in the effectiveness of interventions which seek to prevent poor mental health. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the effectiveness of mindfulness for improving work performance and the mechanisms of that effect. At the University of Melbourne, Maris is investigating the factors which influence decisions to implement mindfulness in the workplace.

• 
  Alicia Smith, PhD student

We welcome expressions of interest from aspiring researchers and clinicians from disadvantaged backgrounds, and individuals with lived experience of mental ill health who may like to contribute to our research.

Funding

• Australian Research Council
• UK Economic and Social Research Council

Research Outcomes

Examples of our research, written for the general community:

• PTSD looks different in young children but it's still treatable
• Past Imperfect: Exploring the Challenges—and the Promise—of Memory’s Malleability