Child and Youth Mental Health Research Stream

Improving the mental health of young people

In high-income countries like Australia, mental disorders are the leading cause of disease burden in people aged under 25 years.

Led by Professor James Scott from his position at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, the Child and Youth Mental Health Research Group aims to improve the health and wellbeing of young Australians and reduce the burden of illness that accompanies mental disorders.

Research focus areas

The groups’ research traverses four focus areas:

1. The study of the patterns, causes, and effects of mental disorders.
2. Identification of factors that influence mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Addressing these influences, such as bullying in schools (traditional and cyberbullying) and maltreatment in childhood, is arguably the most effective way to prevent the onset of mental disorders.
3. The third area is neuroimmunology. Research in this area studies the interplay between the nervous system and the immune system. It has become increasingly apparent that some cases of psychosis and depression arise from inflammation in the central nervous system.
4. A program of clinical trials, known as the Cadence Trials, aims to evaluate safe and innovative treatments for young people with psychosis.

Successes

In the past five years, the child and youth mental health research program has been awarded more than $5million in competitive grant funding resulting in more than one hundred publications. This substantial body of clinical and public health research has made an important impact on the lives of young people experiencing mental health problems.

We have a range of projects being undertaken below.