Abigail Thomson

Profile

PhD title: Emotion Regulation and Youth Mental Health: A Transdiagnostic Mechanism and Clinical Target?

I started my PhD at the Unit for Psychological Medicine at the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health in October 2022. I was awarded funding from the London Interdisciplinary School Science Doctoral Training Partnership (ESRC). My project focuses on emotion regulation as a potential mechanism (and possible clinical target) underlying multiple mental health problems in adolescents. This study firstly explores the relationship between childhood adversity and emotion regulation on mental health and further investigates the effectiveness of a self-directed digital intervention for improving emotion regulation and mental health in adolescents.

I hold a distinction in MSc Foundations of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health and a first-class honours degree in BSc Psychology with Neuroscience (with a professional placement year) from the University of Sussex.

My background is in research, and I previously worked on several large-scale intervention studies based in Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, University of Oxford, UCL and the University of Sussex, utilising both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This research largely focused on the intergenerational transmission of psychopathologies and the prevention of mental health problems in children and young people.

I’m passionate about improving the involvement and engagement of young people in mental health research. I lead several projects which utilise methods of co-design and co-production to improve the representation of underserved communities of young people within mental health research in Universities and the NHS.

Supervisory team: Dr Georgina Hosang (QMUL), Dr Bonamy Oliver (UCL IOE), Dr Ben Wright (ELFT)

Postgraduate Teaching

I teach Applied Research Methods to:

Forensic Mental Health: Research and Practice MSc

Research

Examples of research funding:

I am Principal Investigator on:

• AMPLIFY (A Meaningful Peer-Led Involvement network For Young people)
• A Co-Designed Guide to Youth Involvement in Mental Health Research with Underserved Communities

Publications

• Lloyd, A., Broadbent, A., Brooks, E., Bulsara, K., Donoghue, K., Saijaf, R.,. Thomson, A.... & Lawrence, P. J. (2023). The impact of family interventions on communication in the context of anxiety and depression in those aged 14–24 years: systematic review of randomised control trials. BJPsych open, 9(5), e161.
• Thomson, A., Harris, E., Peters-Corbett, A., Koppel, K., & Creswell, C. (2023). Barriers and facilitators of community-based implementation of evidence-based interventions in the UK, for children and young people's mental health promotion, prevention, and treatment: a rapid scoping review. BJPsych Open, 9(4), e132.
• Dunn, A., Alvarez, J., Arbon, A., Bremner, S., Elsby-Pearson, C., Emsley, R., ... & Thomson, A. (2023). Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: An embedded randomized controlled trial. Study within a trial (SWAT) protocol. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 32, 101090.
• Thomson, A., Peasgood, E., & Robertson, S. (2022). The Youth Patient and Public Involvement Café—A youth‐led model for meaningful involvement with children and young people. Health Expectations, 25(6), 2893-2901.
• Taylor, L., Giles, S., Howitt, S., Ryan, Z., Brooks, E., Radley, L., Thomson, A., ... & Creswell, C. (2022). A randomised controlled trial to compare clinical and cost-effectiveness of an online parent-led treatment for child anxiety problems with usual care in the context of COVID-19 delivered in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the UK (Co-CAT): a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 23(1), 942.
• Dunn, A., Alvarez, J., Arbon, A., Bremner, S., Elsby-Pearson, C., Emsley, R., Thomson, A... & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2022). Effectiveness of a Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Anxiety in the Children of Parents with Anxiety: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Research Protocols, 11(11), e40707.
• Dunn, A., Dixon, C., Thomson, A., & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2022). Workplace Support for Mental Health Workers Who Are Parents: A Feasibility Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 854065.
• Chapman, L., Cartwright-Hatton, S., Thomson, A., & Lester, K. J. (2021). Parental eating disorders: A systematic review of parenting attitudes, behaviours, and parent-child interactions. Clinical psychology review, 88, 102031.