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Research group/lab

The High Risk Population

Research line of Child Psychiatry

Welcome to our pillar about the High Risk Population. Learn more about our projects and meet our research team. We provide excellent care while working responsible, connecting and entrepreneurial.

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The High Risk Population Research  

This pillar focuses on identifying risk and resilience profiles associated with the risk of developing severe mental illnesses, such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. These may play a role in the development of (early) detection, prevention and intervention strategies, personalized to the specific needs of an individual. We focus on offspring of parents with severe mental illness in the mood-psychosis spectrum from prenatally into young adulthood. 

Prof. dr. Neeltje van Haren

My mission is to understand the biological mechanisms underlying psychotic and mood symptoms and diagnoses; and I focus my reserach efforts on the neurobiologcal and (social) cognitive basis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, using neuroimaging approaches, exensive phenotyping, and experimental (social) cognitive paradigms, preferably within longitudinal family designs.

Click here to read more about Neeltje

Our projects

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BRain Imaging, Development & Genetics (BRIDGE) (or: Dutch Bipolar and Schizophrenia Offspring Study, DBSOS)

A family history of severe mental illness is the most important risk factor for developing mental illness. In BRIDGE, we focus on brain development in children and adolescents of parents with and without a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Young subjects at high familial risk for developing mental health problems may be undergoing critical neurodevelopmental changes which set them apart, even at an early age, from children and adolescents without such high familial risk. Therefore, we will obtain both functional and structural brain imaging measurements as well as test for neuropsychological functioning, psychosocial factors, protective factors and psychopathology throughout development.
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ENIGMA-Relatives working group

What is ENIGMA? The ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging and Genetics through meta-analysis) Consortium brings together researchers in imaging genomics to understand brain structure, function, and disease, based on brain imaging and genetic data. Brain researchers, imagers, geneticists, methods developers, and others interested in cracking the neuro-genetic code work together to accomplish the following goals: -To create a network of like-minded individuals, interested in pushing forward the field of imaging genetics. -To ensure promising findings are replicated via member collaborations. -To share ideas, algorithms, data, and information on research studies and methods. -To facilitate training, including workshops and conferences on key methods and emerging directions in imaging genetics. See https://enigma.ini.usc.edu/ (copy the link, and paste and search in webbrowser) ENIGMA-Relatives ENIGMA-Relatives working group is one of the working groups within the ENIGMA consortium with a focus on familial risk for mental illness. We pool MRI brain data from around the world from first-degree relatives of patients with severe mental illness and compare those with controls (and their probands).

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Genetic, Imaging, and Cognition study of Positive Valence Systems in Psychotic Syndromes

The Research Domains Criteria (RDoC) initiative aims to identify more valid dimensions, spanning multiple biological and psychological levels, to advance basic understanding of mental disorders and their treatments. There is consensus that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share substantial genetic risk and multiple overlapping phenotypic variations at the levels of corticostriatal brain circuits, cognitive functions, and behavior. Yet, it remains unknown precisely which dimensions are shared, which diverge between syndromes, and how the associated phenotypes relate to shared and non-shared genetic risk. The proposed research will examine the RDoC Positive Valence Systems (PVS) domain providing new, multi-level data pertaining to three primary PVS component processes identified by the RDoC Workshop focused on Reward Seeking and Consummatory Behavior (Approach Motivation): 1) Reward Valuation (a Multi-Armed Bandit Task with Bayesian Modeling of Learning Strategies), 2) Effort Valuation (the Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task), and 3) Expectancy/Reward Prediction Error (the Monetary Incentive Delay Task.

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PANDA-study - Prenatal And Neonatal Development: An offspring study of severe mental illness

Young mother with schizoaffective disorder: "As a mother with a psychotic disorder, I find it important to know as early as possible in my daughter’s life if she is at risk. It can make a real difference; I can teach her how to cope with stress. Prevention is better than cure." PANDA aims to investigate if neurodevelopmental deviations occur perinatally and socioemotional development during the first 18 months of life in offspring at high familial risk for psychiatric diagnoses in the mood and psychosis spectrum. By identifying neurobiological and behavioral risk factors well before the diagnosis is given, we offer a window of opportunity to intervene.

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PROTECt ME

We aim to optimize the well-being of Dutch youth aged 12 to 25 via technology-driven proactive interventions, e.g., eHealth.

Our team

Principal Investigators

Postdocs

Phd Students