Shining light on the mind

Both my works are supervised by female science superstars (professors Catherine Harmer and Anke Ehlers), who have made great contributions to psychology and who really inspire me. I got an offer to continue my work in Professor Harmer’s lab as a 3-year PhD, which I will probably start in autumn to study cognitive effects of pharmacological treatments. I’m really interested in this area because it helps elucidate what’s actually happening in the mind during mental illness and its treatments. For example, some findings suggest that antidepressants don’t actually change your mood, instead they change how your mind is learning about the good and bad things in the world. Therefore they can help a patient ‘re-learn’ what the world is like in a more positive light, especially if medication is combined with therapy that reinforces this learning. This helps us understand which patients may most benefit from antidepressants. Isn’t that interesting!In my free time I’m trying to improve my guitar playing, I bake cakes (see picture), listen to Franz Ferdinand and I’m planning our upcoming autumn wedding. :)