UEL Psychology Seminar Series - Professor Dinesh Bhughra CBE - The future of mental health services in the 21st century

UEL Psychology Seminar Series

Date:     18^th March 2015

Time:     17:00-18:00       

Venue:  Arthur Edwards Building, Room 2.06

 

Professor Dinesh Bhughra CBE

Professor of Mental Health and Diversity, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London

 

Title:

The future of mental health services in the 21st century

 

Abstract:

For centuries, individuals with mental health illnesses were known as aliens and mental health professionals were known as alienists.  In the last 60 years or so, there have been major advances in understanding the aetiology of mental health illnesses and in developing newer interventions; these include not only drug therapies but also psychotherapies.  Research and services in mental health at this moment stand at the cusp of exciting discoveries and social changes.  As a result of recent globalisation in many parts of the world, there has been an increase in urbanisation and industrialisation which has changed societies, their structures and support systems.  With the recent worldwide economic downturn, pressures on resources - including health resources - have increased dramatically.  This has led to pressures at the very time when more resources are needed.  In addition, key stakeholders’ views are changing.  Politicians want us to focus on risk assessment and management.  Patients are becoming more aware of their needs and have better knowledge of their medication and illnesses.  In the early 21^st Century, understanding of genome mapping has led to the development of psychopharmacogenomics.  Nevertheless, stigma, prejudice and discrimination towards mental illness, the mentally ill and mental health professionals continue, leading to an increasing mental health gap across the globe.  Shortage of human resources produces yet another challenge.  Social media, advances in technology and newer ways of learning are critical to our understanding of delivery of services in this century.  The closure of asylums and the move to the community services must be borne in mind as contributing to further challenges.  Public mental health strategies must be taken into account.

 

Brief Biography:

Professor Dinesh Bhugra CBE is President of the World Psychiatric Association (2011-2014).  He is the recipient of over 10 honorary degrees.  His research interests are in cultural psychiatry, sexual dysfunction and service development.  He has authored/co-authored over 350 scientific papers, chapters and 30 books.  He is the Editor of the International Journal of Social Psychiatry, International Review of Psychiatry and International Journal of Culture and Mental Health.  Previously he was the Dean (2003-2008) and President (2008-2011) of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, where he led on major policy initiatives on society’s contract with society and the role of the psychiatrist.

 

Session Chair:

Professor Rachel Tribe

UEL Psychology Seminar Series - Professor Fiona N. Newell - Can research into multisensory integration inform theories of synaesthesia?

UEL Psychology Seminar Series
Date: 25th February 2015
Time: 17:00-18:00
Venue: Arthur Edwards Building, Room 2.06

Professor Fiona N. Newell
School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Title:
Can research into multisensory integration inform theories of synaesthesia?

Abstract:
Although the behavioural and neurological processes underpinning the condition of synaesthesia have been elucidated in recent years, there have been relatively fewer attempts to investigate the extent to which synaesthesia is mediated by general multisensory processes. Evidence for shared synaesthetic-like associations across the senses in non-synaesthetes is consistent with the idea that synaesthesia is not a discrete condition. Recent results from neuroimaging studies suggest that there are important interactions between the senses in synaesthesia and that these interactions go beyond the nature of the synaesthetic experience itself, consistent with broader genetic and developmental influences. Our behavioural evidence supports the idea that synaesthesia is triggered by multisensory rather than unisensory inputs, and moreover, that the synaesthetic experience itself may be penetrated by on-going cross-modal processes. Taken together, these findings suggest that synaesthesia may be supported by multisensory interactions which are common to all, although the extent to which these processes overlap is not yet fully understood.

Brief Biography:

Fiona Newell is a Professor in the School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience in Trinity College Dublin. Her main research interest is in human perceptual function. The goal of her research is to provide a better understanding of how information is shared across the senses for the maintenance of coherent perception and to elucidate the brain processes involved in the perception of objects, faces and places across vision, hearing and touch. Recently, together with her research team, she has investigated how development affects multisensory processes, as well as individual differences in multisensory perception such as blindness and synaesthesia.

She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Durham, UK, and was awarded several post-doctoral research fellowships allowing her to work in different perception labs around the world including Israel, Germany and the UK. She returned to Ireland in 2000 to take up a lectureship position in the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin.

Session Chair: Dr. Clare Jonas