Taking Part in the MH Mission

The Trust is taking part in a national programme funded by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) called the Mental Health Mission (MHM) programme. Our area of focus is treatment-resistant depression and other affective disorders. The overall aim of the programme is to establish a network of centres of excellence, designed to improve clinical outcomes in patients with treatment-resistant depression and related conditions through their participation in investigations of novel psychological, pharmacological, and neurostimulation treatments. The programme is led locally by Professor David Baldwin, who offers a Mood Disorders Service at College Keep in Southampton for patients with complex, severe, and previously treatment-resistant unipolar depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The OLS MHM funding has supported the recruitment of two consultant-level clinical research fellows (Dr Remi Guillochon and Dr Robert Gordon), and there is scope to recruit further staff as demand on the service increases. Previously, the service was ‘tertiary referral’, with patients being referred by colleagues in secondary care mental health services, but the service is now able to take suitable referrals from primary care (general practice) and a limited number of self-referring people, who are first screened through the use of questionnaires. The principal study, due to start within the next few months, is an investigation of the effectiveness and acceptability of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as an approach to the management of depressed patients, with patients undertaking supervised treatment at home. Future studies are likely to include investigations of novel psychotropic compounds and the evaluation of innovative digital health technologies. As the programme expands, it will be joined by the formation of an expert advisory group of patients and carers with experience of treatment-resistant affective disorders.

This is an excellent example of research driving improved care for patients with serious mental illness who haven’t responded to traditional lines of treatment, and of partnership between the Academic Psychiatry Team at the University of Southampton and the Trust.