Beata Godlewska

My research focuses on two main areas: the psychopharmacology of mood disorders - depression and bipolar disorder - and psychological mechanisms of antidepressant drug action.

I am a part of Prof Philip Cowen's Clinical Psychopharmacology group and collaborate with Prof Catherine Harmer, exploring her cognitive neuropsychological model of drug action in depressed populations.

Mood disorders are an important public health problem, which biology is not fully understood and treatments not always effective. Claryfying their neurobiology is an important step towards understanding predisposition and improving available treatments. Increasing an understanding of how antidepressants act on the brain in the psychological contexts opens a new range of possibilities for increasing treatment options and prediction of response.

In my research I use a range of methodologies: neuropsychological testing, fMRI, MRS, MEG in various populations: currently unwell people, people at risk of depression because of the previous history of this disorder and healthy volunteers.