Research Areas

Overview

The Clinical Staging in Mental Health team works to develop criteria for identifying young people presenting with non-specific symptoms who are at risk of progressing to a range of disorders such as psychotic disorders, severe mood disorder, mania, and personality disorders. The team aims to identify risk and protective factors, as well as trial novel therapies.

Why is this research area important?

Identifying young people at an early stage of psychiatric disorder provides the best opportunity to prevent disorders from worsening. This may ultimately result in reducing the incidence and prevalence of psychiatric disorders, as well as provide treatment for young people.

Key questions

- What criteria best identify young people presenting with non-specific symptoms who are at risk of progressing to a range of disorders? 
- What are the risk and protective factors (clinical, neurocognitive, neurobiological, genetic) for threshold-level disorders?
- What interventions can prevent or delay progression from a low risk to high risk and improve results?