Clinical psychopharmacology and psychometrics
Short description
Our research group focuses on maximizing the utility of research data in psychiatry.
About our research
Better matching between patients and treatments
Our research revolves around the assessment of efficacy, tolerability, and safety of psychopharmacological treatments. At this point, we are especially interested in comparing the specific effects of different treatments for the same conditions, e.g., different classes of antidepressants or antidepressants to psychotherapy. The goal being to improve the matching between patients and interventions so that better treatment outcomes can be achieved. I.e., personalized medicine.
Improved understanding of treatment effects
We also have a keen interest in how to most accurately and comprehensively evaluate the effects of psychopharmaceuticals in clinical and research settings. This translates to an interest in how to best construct rating scales for various psychiatric constructs, e.g., using item response theory or classical test theory. The underlying hypothesis being that increased precision in measurement can help guide future drug discovery, e.g., by decreasing the number of participants needed to demonstrate significant effects in clinical trials and/or by increasing our understanding of the specific effects in humans of different psychopharmaceuticals which may also aid personalized medicine.
More informative clinical trials
While we primarily work with large collections of clinical trial and registry data, we also collaborate with research groups that are engaged in clinical trials of psychopharmaceuticals. Currently we are contributing to studies of psilocybin for depression in patients with cancer, escitalopram in premenstrual dysphoric disorder, transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression or eating disorders, and a novel dopamine stabilizer as add-on treatment to SSRIs in treatment-resistant depression.
Members
Fredrik Hieronymus, Associate professor, Researcher, PI
Axel Sjöstedt, MD, Doctoral student
Helena Werin Sjögren, MD, Doctoral student
Caroline Dumitrescu, Medical program student, Amanuensis
