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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.