Mood disorders; Depression; Mania; Irritability; Oppositional Defiant Disorder; Genetics; Epidemiology; Imaging.

Dr Stringaris leads the Mood and Development lab

Researcher ID URL: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/H-8202-2012

I am a clinician scientist funded by the Wellcome Trust to study mood in health and disease across human development. I trained at the Maudsley Hospital (MRCPsych), the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London (PhD), and the National Institutes of Health (Clinical Research Fellow) in the USA. I am married to Kate, née Taylor, a haematologist from London and we have a daughter, Clara Maria.
My aim is to understand what makes some people more depressed, irritable or euphoric than others and how changes in mood affect the wellbeing of people. My colleagues and I use epidemiological, imaging, and genetic methodologies to answer this question. Our work on mood disorders was awarded the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) Research Prize for 2010 in the category of child and adolescent psychiatry and is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the UK Department of Health. I am one of the editors of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and a corresponding editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
As a consultant psychiatrist, I see and treat children and families who suffer from depression, bipolar disorder or severe irritability. Our team, the National and Specialist Mood Disorder Clinic in the Michael Rutter Centre of the Maudsley Hospital, provides a specialist multidisciplinary service for children with depression, bipolar disorder and severe irritability (http://www.national.slam.nhs.uk/services/camhs/camhs-mooddisorder/).
My main areas of work at present are:
Developmental pathways to depression.
Our work has shown that irritable children are more likely to become depressed later in life. Similarly, many of the problems that tend to be described as “disruptive behaviours” are problems with mood regulation. We are now studying the genetic, neuropsychological, and hormonal mechanisms that underlie mood regulation, using long-term follow up and twin studies.
Early-life presentation of mania and its treatment.
Many people with bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder report having experienced psychological problems early in life. However, the ways in which bipolar disorder can present in the young is a topic of debate and intense scientific interest. We use community- and clinic-based studies to discover the early-life presentation of bipolar symptoms.
Brain mechanisms of mood dysregulation
The ways in which the brain controls emotional responses seem to vary by developmental stage. We are working on a project that uses functional imaging to understand how regional cerebral blood flow varies during transitions of mood states in young people. We hope that by doing so we will be better able to detect mood changes in those who find it difficult to express emotions (e.g. children with autism), and also monitor how medication may affect mood.
Measurement of Mood and Behaviour
Measuring mood states and mood fluctuation in a flexible yet reliable way remains a challenge. We have recently developed the Affective Reactivity Index, a concise instrument to measure irritability and are now working on an in-depth interview to capture mood changes.