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Developmental Psychiatry

Our vision is to improve the prediction and characterization of psychiatric disorders across the lifespan and contribute to developing new prevention and personalized treatment strategies and identifying new treatment targets.

Our mission is to perform multi-disciplinary neuroscience research and use multi-modal neuroimaging techniques to elucidate the complex relationships between brain, body, cognition and mental health and how these relationships are modulated by environmental and biological factors.

Background

Psychiatric disorders such as major depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders are globally among the leading causes of years lived with disability. Many psychiatric disorders have their onset in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. Neuroscientific research, driven by the advances in vivo brain imaging methods, established that psychiatric disorders are disorders of the brain. Nevertheless, diagnosis is still largely based on clinical assessment and diagnostic categories are highly heterogeneous with respect to symptomatology and disease progression. Furthermore, available treatments are often generic and not tailored to the individual.

About us

Our neuroscientific research is highly interdisciplinary. In close collaboration with our clinical partners, we employ state of the art multimodal brain imaging and electrophysiological techniques to elucidate, characterize and monitor the neurobiological and neurocognitive signatures of risk, resilience and disease in different at-risk and neuropsychiatric populations. We have a long history of doing research in the field of neuropsychiatry.  We are currently part of the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study - VIA 11 (www.drcmr.dk/via-11) a national longitudinal study of 522 eleven-year old children born to parents with or without a diagnosis of either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and the TECTO study (www.drcmr.dk/tecto), that combines a randomized clinical trial and longitudinal case-control design in paediatric patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

 

Research Group hjemmesidebillede

 

Multimodal brain imaging and electrophysiological techniques characterize and monitor neurobiological and neurocognitve underpinnings of risk, resilience and mental disease across the lifespan. Bodily functions and fitness are assessed. Lightning bolts: genetic predispositions, prenatal events and postnatal stressors are thought to increase individuals’ vulnerability to stressors that often impact during maturation.

 

Selected Publications

Ver Loren van Themaat AH, Hemager N, Korsgaard Johnsen L, Klee Burton B, Ellersgaard D, Christiani C, Brandt J, Gregersen M, Falkenberg Krantz M, Søborg Spang K, Søndergaard A, Møllegaard Jepsen JR, Elgaard Thorup AA, Siebner HR, Plessen KJ, Nordentoft M, Vangkilde S. 2021. Development of visual attention from age 7 to age 12 in children with familial high risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia Research. 228:327-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2020.12.031

Taylor JA, Larsen KM, Dzafic I, Garrido MI. 2021. Predicting subclinical psychotic-like experiences on a continuum using machine learning. NeuroImage. 241:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118329

Dzafic I, Larsen KM, Darke H, Pertile H, Carter O, Sundram S, Garrido MI. 2021. Stronger Top-Down and Weaker Bottom-Up Frontotemporal Connections During Sensory Learning Are Associated With Severity of Psychotic Phenomena. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 47(4):1039-1047. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa188

Taylor JA, Larsen KM, Garrido MI. 2020. Multi-dimensional predictions of psychotic symptoms via machine learning. Human Brain Mapping. 41(18):5151-5163. Available from: 10.1002/hbm.25181

Larsen KM, Dzafic I, Darke H, Pertile H, Carter O, Sundram S, Garrido MI. 2020. Aberrant connectivity in auditory precision encoding in schizophrenia spectrum disorder and across the continuum of psychotic-like experiences. Schizophrenia Research. 222:185-194. Available from: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.05.061

Johnsen LK, Ver Loren van Themaat AH, Larsen KM, Burton BK, Baaré WFC, Madsen KS, Nordentoft M, Siebner HR, Plessen KJ. 2020. Alterations in Task-Related Brain Activation in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults at Familial High-Risk for Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder - A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 11:1-16. Available from: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00632

Maigaard K, Nejad AB, Andersen KW, Herz DM, Hagstrøm J, Pagsberg AK, Skov L, Siebner HR, Plessen KJ. 2019. A superior ability to suppress fast inappropriate responses in children with Tourette syndrome is further improved by prospect of reward. Neuropsychologia. 131:342-352. Available from: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.012

Larsen KM, Mørup M, Birknow MR, Fischer E, Olsen L, Didriksen M, Baaré WFC, Werge TM, Garrido MI, Siebner HR. 2019. Individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome show intact prediction but reduced adaptation in responses to repeated sounds: Evidence from Bayesian mapping. NeuroImage. Clinical. 22:1-10. Available from: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101721

Hagstrøm J, Spang KS, Christiansen BM, Maigaard K, Vangkilde S, Esbjørn BH, Jepsen JRM, Plessen KJ. 2019. The Puzzle of Emotion Regulation: Development and Evaluation of the Tangram Emotion Coding Manual for Children. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 10:1-10. Available from: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00723

DRCMR Group Members

Melissa Larsen

Group Leader

William Frans Christiaan Baaré

Kathrine Skak Madsen

Show all group members (9)

External Collaborators


Psykiatrisk Center København

Prof. Merete Nordentoft


Psykiatrisk Universitetscenter Glostrup

Prof. Birte Glenthøj


Forskningsenheden ved BUC

Prof. Katrine Pagsberg


University Hospital Lausanne

Prof. Kerstin Plessen


Forskningsintitut for Biologisk Psykiatri, Sct. Hans

Prof. Thomas Werge


Psykiatrisk Center København

Prof. Lars Kessing

Prof. Kamilla Miskowiak

Assoc. Prof. Maj Vinberg


Neurobiologic Research Unit

Prof. Gitte Moos Knudsen