Mental Health
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Neurosciences Programme
Group Leader
Víctor Pérez Sola
Group Leader
Francesc Colom Victoriano
The Mental Health Research Group is a multidisciplinary team formed by researchers from several fields of mental health. Currently, the group has three main areas of research:
• E-mental Health: our group pioneers the design, research and implementation of online tools devised to provide a user-friendly, accessible, efficient, scalable and cheaper treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. Several outstanding projects are ongoing in this area:
- Ifightdepression: this is an online CBT-inspired treatment aimed at dealing with mild and moderate depression. Our group is running the largest efficiency trial with this tool, advocating for its implementation and training ad-hoc therapists.
- SIMPLe: an Android and IOS app designed by our researchers that aims to provide online psychoeducation, symptom monitoring, adherence enhancement and crisis prevention in bipolar disorder. An RCT is currently under way.
- We currently have several brand-new tools on our work benches, including e-EMDR, a subthreshold anxiety management online kit and others.
• Personalized interventions for treatment-refractory patients: our group uses novel and groundbreaking pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches to deal with treatment-refractory patients. Similarly, the group works with several large consortiums aiming to identify new biomarkers of treatment response. The following are some examples:
- Impact of trauma and the efficacy of EMDR with: PTSD, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, immigration related trauma, etc.
- Psychosurgery in refractory anorexia.
- Psilocybin and ketamine in refractory depression.
- Neuroimaging and pharmacogenetics in the prediction of response to lithium.
• Neuroimaging. Our group studies the brain and behavior correlations using anatomical and functional MRI. Significant contributions have been made in the field of obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, chronic pain, psychopathy and rare genetic disorders.
Research group
Members
Pilar Álvarez López (Researcher)
María Teresa Campillo Sanz (Researcher)
Matilde Elices (Researcher)
Marc Grifell Guàrdia (Researcher)
Antonio Luis Palomo Nicolau (Researcher)
Núria Pujol Giménez (Researcher)
Alfonso Rodríguez Martínez (Researcher)
Alicia Valiente Gómez (Researcher)
Sílvia Oller Canet (PhD Student)
Aitana García Estela (Technician)
Bridget Hogg (Technician)
Alba Toll Privat (Technician)
Núria Viñeta Garí (Technician)
Eva Luque Asín (Research Assistant)
Main Publications
• Argyelan M, Oltedal L, Deng ZD, Wade B, Bikson M, Joanlanne A, Sanghani S, Bartsch H, Cano M, Dale AM, Dannlowski U, Dols A, Enneking V, Espinoza R, Kessler U, Narr KL, Oedegaard KJ, Oudega ML, Redlich R, Stek ML, Takamiya A, Emsell L, Bouckaert F, Sienaert P, Pujol J, Tendolkar I, van Eijndhoven P, Petrides G, Malhotra AK, Abbott C. Electric field causes volumetric changes in the human brain. eLife 2019; 8: e49115. IF 7.551. D1.
• Camprodon-Rosanas E, Pujol J, Martínez-Vilavella G, Blanco-Hinojo L, Medrano-Martorell S, Batlle-Vila S, Forns J, Ribas-Fitó N, Dolz M, Sunyer J. Brain Structure and Function in School-Aged Children With Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Symptoms. J Am Acad Child Psy 2019; 58(2): 256-266. IF 6.391. D1.
• Pujol J, Harrison BJ, Contreras-Rodríguez O, Cardoner N. The contribution of brain imaging to the understanding of psychopathy. Psychol Med 2019; 49(1): 20-31. IF: 5.641. D1.
• Pujol J, Blanco-Hinojo L, Macià D, Alonso P, Harrison BJ, Martínez-Vilavella G, Deus J, Menchón JM, Cardoner N, Soriano-Mas C. Mapping Alterations of the Functional Structure of the Cerebral Cortex in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Cereb Cortex 2019; 29(11): 4753-4762. IF: 5.437. Q1.
• Kalman JL, Papiol S, Forstner AJ, Heilbronner U, Degenhardt F, Strohmaier J, Adli M, Adorjan K, Akula N, Alda M, et al. (Colom F). Investigating polygenic burden in age at disease onset in bipolar disorder: Findings from an international multicentric study. Bipolar Disord 2019; 21(1): 68-75. IF: 4.936. Q1.
Ongoing Research Projects
• Estudio del estado de activación del factor Nrf2 en cultivo primario de pro-neuronas a partir de epitelio olfatorio en el Trastorno Depresivo Mayor
- Financing institution: Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. ISCIII (PI15/00398)
- Period: from 2016 to 2020
- Principal investigator: Álvarez López, Pilar
• Single-blind, Randomized Controlled Comparison of EMDR Versus Supportive Therapy in Affective Relapse Prevention in Bipolar Patients With a History of Trauma
- Financing institution: Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (24397)
- Period: from 2017 to 2020
- Principal investigator: Amann, Benedikt Lorenz
• Estimulación cerebral profunda en el cíngulo subgeniculado y el núcleo accumbens como tratamiento a pacientes con anorexia nerviosa crónica, severa y refractaria
- Financing institution: Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. ISCIII (PI16/00382)
- Period: from 2017 to 2019
- Principal investigator: Pérez Sola, Víctor
• Optimizing response to Li treatment through personalized evaluation of individuals with bipolar I disorder: the R-LiNK initiative
- Financing institution: European Commission (754907)
- Period: from 2018 to 2022
- Principal investigator: Colom Victoriano, Francesc
• Estudi simple cec, aleatoritzat i controlat per comparar l'eficàcia de l'EMDR vs. TAU en pacients amb trastorn per ús de substàncies i història de trauma psicològic
- Financing institution: Departament de Salut de la Generalitat de Catalunya (SLT006/17/00038)
- Period: from 2018 to 2020
- Principal investigator: Amann, Benedikt Lorenz
Participation in Research Networks
• CIBERSAM – Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental
- Financing institution: Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. Subprograma CIBER. (CB07/09/0010)
- Period: from 2014 to 2019
- Principal investigator: Pérez Sola, Víctor
2019
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info@imim.es