Mental Health Neuroscience Programme

To survive, organisms maintain homeostasis by predicting, detecting, and regulating their internal state: am I thirsty? Hungry? In pain? Patients with mental ill-health frequently report disturbances in one or more homeostatic domains, including motivation, appetite, and sleep. For many patients, current treatments are profoundly limited in treating these homeostatic disruptions. The field is missing a framework to translate scientific discoveries in homeostatic processes into new potential treatments (or improvements in existing treatments) for mental health conditions. My MRC Programme develops and tests such a framework. First, we are exploring whether disruptions in bodily processes, such as circadian rhythm or inflammation affect our brain’s ability to learn, a key process underpinning symptoms in psychiatric disorders. Next, we are developing a new brain stimulation approach that could alter the brain’s awareness of the body’s state. This could be helpful for patients who have disruptions in their sensation of internal signals, such as sickness or hunger. Finally, we are also testing new ways of improving psychological therapy using homeostatic augmentations, such as medications given directly before the therapy. This will allow us to move from basic laboratory science toward improved mental health treatment, identifying which domains have the most clinical potential, and which interventions will work for which patients.