Contact information

Email	kate.saunders@psych.ox.ac.uk
Tel	01865 618330
Fax	01865 618221
PA	Sarah Atkinson
PA email	sarah.atkinson@psych.ox.ac.uk

Kate Saunders

DPhil MRCPsych FHEA

Clinical Researcher

Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist
MRCPsych Course Organiser
Academic Foundation Lead

Mood instability, Borderline personality disorder, Bipolar disorder

My early research focused on suicidal behaviour, while my doctorate explored psychiatric phenotypes. As part of this work I conducted one of the first studies to distinguish bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder on the basis of cognitive function and social behaviour. In 2014 I was given a NARSAD Young Investigator award by the Brain and Behaviour Foundation to study whether deficits in social cognition are a valid treatment target in borderline personality disorder. Alongside this, in conjunction with colleagues at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering I set-up, and am the clinical lead for, the AMoSS study, which uses smart-phones and wearable devices e.g. actigraphs, to prospectively explore mood and related behavioural variables in a cohort of bipolar and borderline patients. This has integrated with my current role in the Wellcome Trust funded CONBRIO programme, which focuses on deep and frequent phenotyping of mood instability and the development of new mathematical approaches to the analysis of mood and related data.

I also the course organiser for the Oxford MRCPsych Course.

I am funded by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award: Collaborative Oxford Network for Bipolar Research to Improve Outcomes (CONBRIO). I was a graduate scholar at Jesus College Oxford and have been awarded the Florence Stoney studentship by the British Federation for Women Graduates.

Experiences of remote mood and activity monitoring in bipolar disorder: A qualitative study.
Saunders KE. et al, (2017), Eur Psychiatry, 41, 115 - 121
Risk factors for suicide in children and young people: common yet complex.
Saunders KE., (2016), Lancet Psychiatry, 3, 699 - 700
Interventions to prevent self-harm: what does the evidence say?
Saunders KE. and Smith KA., (2016), Evid Based Ment Health, 19, 69 - 72
Insensitivity to the Magnitude of Potential Gains or Losses When Making Risky Choices: Women With Borderline Personality Disorder Compared With Bipolar Disorder and Controls.
Saunders KE. et al, (2016), J Pers Disord, 30, 530 - 544
Borderline personality disorder, but not euthymic bipolar I disorder, is associated with prolonged post-error slowing in sensorimotor performance.
Saunders KE. et al, (2016), J Affect Disord, 198, 163 - 170
Evidence-based guidelines for treating bipolar disorder: Revised third edition recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.
Goodwin GM. et al, (2016), J Psychopharmacol, 30, 495 - 553
Oxford Lithium Trial (OxLith) of the early affective, cognitive, neural and biochemical effects of lithium carbonate in bipolar disorder: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Saunders KE. et al, (2016), Trials, 17
The management of bipolar disorder.
Saunders KE. and Geddes JR., (2016), Br J Hosp Med (Lond), 77, 175 - 179
Distinguishing bipolar disorder from borderline personality disorder: A study of current clinical practice.
Saunders KE. et al, (2015), Eur Psychiatry, 30, 965 - 974
Mood instability: significance, definition and measurement.
Broome MR. et al, (2015), Br J Psychiatry, 207, 283 - 285
Borderline personality disorder, but not euthymic bipolar disorder, is associated with a failure to sustain reciprocal cooperative behaviour: Implications for spectrum models of mood disorders
Saunders KEA. et al, (2015), Psychological Medicine, 45, 1591 - 1600
Rationale and design of OxLith: a randomised placebo controlled trial exploring the short-term physical and psychological effects of lithium on mood instability
Geddes JR. et al, (2015), BIPOLAR DISORDERS, 17, 110 - 110
Daily and weekly mood ratings: relative contributions to the differentiation of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder
Bilderbeck AC. et al, (2015), BIPOLAR DISORDERS, 17, 129 - 130
Borderline personality disorder, but not euthymic bipolar disorder, is associated with a failure to sustain reciprocal cooperative behaviour: implications for spectrum models of mood disorders.
Saunders KE. et al, (2015), Psychol Med, 45, 1591 - 1600
Suicidal behaviour in bipolar disorder: understanding the role of affective states.
Saunders KE. and Hawton K., (2015), Bipolar Disord, 17, 24 - 26
Psychiatric assessment of mood instability: qualitative study of patient experience.
Bilderbeck AC. et al, (2014), Br J Psychiatry, 204, 234 - 239
The sad truth about the SADPERSONS Scale: An evaluation of its clinical utility in self-harm patients
Saunders K. et al, (2014), Emergency Medicine Journal, 31, 796 - 798
Lecture Notes in Psychiatry. 11th edition
Gulati G. et al, (2013)
Psychiatric disorders in patients presenting to hospital following self-harm: A systematic review
Hawton K. et al, (2013), Journal of Affective Disorders, 151, 821 - 830
Clinical assessment and crisis intervention for the suicidal bipolar disorder patient.
Saunders KE. and Hawton K., (2013), Bipolar Disord, 15, 575 - 583
Distinguishing bipolar disorder from borderline personality disorder
Saunders KEA. et al, (2013), BIPOLAR DISORDERS, 15, 115 - 115
An audit of mental capacity assessment on general medical wards
Sleeman I. and Saunders K., (2013), Clinical Ethics, 8, 47 - 51
Risk factors for suicide in individuals with depression: a systematic review.
Hawton K. et al, (2013), J Affect Disord, 147, 17 - 28
New approaches in the treatment of bipolar depression.
Saunders KEA. and Goodwin GM., (2013), Curr Top Behav Neurosci, 14, 291 - 307
Attitudes and knowledge of clinical staff regarding people who self-harm: a systematic review.
Saunders KE. et al, (2012), J Affect Disord, 139, 205 - 216
Self-harm and suicide in adolescents.
Hawton K. et al, (2012), Lancet, 379, 2373 - 2382
DECREASED SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE TO ALCOHOL AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH THE BIPOLAR PHENOTYPE
Yip SW. et al, (2011), JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, 25, A13 - A13
Clinical Care for deliberate self harm patients: an evidence based approach.
Hawton K. et al, (2011), International Handbook of Suicide Prevention
Lamotrigine to prevent depressive episodes in bipolar disorder
Saunders KEA. and Goodwin GM., (2011), The Prescriber, 22, 325 - 327
Healthcare and social services resource use and costs of self-harm patients.
Sinclair JM. et al, (2011), Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, 46, 263 - 271
Diagnosing and managing psychosis in primary care
Saunders KEA. et al, (2011), The Practitioner, 255, 17 - 20
The course of bipolar disorder
Saunders KEA. and Goodwin GM., (2010), Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 16, 318 - 328
The role of psychopharmacology in suicide prevention.
Saunders KE. and Hawton K., (2009), Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc, 18, 172 - 178
Psychiatric service development and suicide.
Hawton K. and Saunders KE., (2009), Lancet, 373, 99 - 100
Suicidal behaviour and the menstrual cycle.
Saunders KE. and Hawton K., (2006), Psychol Med, 36, 901 - 912
Sleep problems and suicide associated with mood instability in the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, 2007.
McDonald K. et al, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Prescribing in borderline personality disorder
Saunders KEA. and Brain S.
Oxford Lithium Trial (OxLith): a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled study of the early affective, cognitive, neural and biochemical effects of lithium carbonate in bipolar disorde
Geddes JR. et al, Trials
Mental capacity in the general hospital: An Audit.
Saunders KEA. and Sleeman I.
Innovative approaches to bipolar disorder and its treatment
Harrison PJ. et al, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
I KNOW YOU THINK I THINK – THEREFORE I AM’. MENTALISATION BASED THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY: A DESCRIPTION
Ruscombe-King G. et al, International Journal of Therapeutic Communities
Gender Reassignment: An Evaluation of 5 years of referrals in Oxfordshire
Saunders KEA. and Bass C., The Psychiatrist, 325 - 327
Detecting Bipolar Depression from Geographic Location Data
De Vos MFH. et al, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering
Daily longitudinal self-monitoring of mood variability in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder
De Vos MFH. et al, Journal of Affective Disorders
Alcohol use in medical students
Saunders KEA. and Abbott T.
A systematic review of calcium channel antagonists in bipolar disorder and some considerations for their future development
Cipriani A. et al, Molecular Psychiatry

Key Publications

Borderline personality disorder, but not euthymic bipolar disorder, is associated with a failure to sustain reciprocal cooperative behaviour: implications for spectrum models of mood disorders.
Saunders KE. et al, (2015), Psychol Med, 45, 1591 - 1600
Suicidal behaviour in bipolar disorder: understanding the role of affective states.
Saunders KE. and Hawton K., (2015), Bipolar Disord, 17, 24 - 26
Clinical assessment and crisis intervention for the suicidal bipolar disorder patient.
Saunders KE. and Hawton K., (2013), Bipolar Disord, 15, 575 - 583
New approaches in the treatment of bipolar depression.
Saunders KEA. and Goodwin GM., (2013), Curr Top Behav Neurosci, 14, 291 - 307
Distinguishing bipolar disorder from borderline personality disorder
Saunders KEA. et al, (2013), BIPOLAR DISORDERS, 15, 115 - 115

Recent Publications

Experiences of remote mood and activity monitoring in bipolar disorder: A qualitative study.
Saunders KE. et al, (2017), Eur Psychiatry, 41, 115 - 121
Risk factors for suicide in children and young people: common yet complex.
Saunders KE., (2016), Lancet Psychiatry, 3, 699 - 700
Interventions to prevent self-harm: what does the evidence say?
Saunders KE. and Smith KA., (2016), Evid Based Ment Health, 19, 69 - 72
Insensitivity to the Magnitude of Potential Gains or Losses When Making Risky Choices: Women With Borderline Personality Disorder Compared With Bipolar Disorder and Controls.
Saunders KE. et al, (2016), J Pers Disord, 30, 530 - 544
Borderline personality disorder, but not euthymic bipolar I disorder, is associated with prolonged post-error slowing in sensorimotor performance.
Saunders KE. et al, (2016), J Affect Disord, 198, 163 - 170

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