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Professor of Psychology, Cathy Creswell joins the University of Oxford in a new dual role between the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology.

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek is an opportunity to think about the impact of mental health challenges. One in four at some point will experience a mental health problem each year, and it accounts for over 15.4 million sick days from work.

One area that is particularly vulnerable to mental health problems is children and young people. One in eight (12.8%) of children and young people aged between five and 19, surveyed in England in 2017, had a mental disorder and one in eighteen (5.5%) preschool children were identified as having at least one mental disorder at the time they were surveyed.

The University of Oxford already has an impressive legacy in researching and developing the evolutions in mental health treatment. Helping to build on this proud legacy Cathy Creswell will be leading the research and development for the future of psychological therapies for children and young people with childhood anxiety disorders.

In her first interview since coming to Oxford, Cathy reveals what it’s like researching anxiety disorders in children and young people.

How do you plan to contribute to the expansion of child and young people's mental health research here at Oxford?

Why is this research important and what are the risks if it’s not made an area of focus?

What do we need to be thinking about when researching psychological therapies for children and young people?

 

Why is early access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapies for child anxiety disorders important?

What does your research suggest is missing with the current ways of identifying anxiety problems in children and young people?

What excites you the most about the future of mental health research?

Apart from your work, what else do you enjoy doing?