Biased patterns in the retrieval of emotional autobiographical memories both maintain symptoms of affective disorders, and predict future symptoms. Our ongoing work focusses on establishing the mechanisms through which biased autobiographical processing influences symptoms. This is being investigated through experimental work with both normative and clinical samples. This work also forms the foundation for developing novel cognitive interventions. Currently, we are testing the efficacy of memory training programmes that seek to improve processing of emotional information, and thereby treat symptoms of depression, with a focus on adolescents. We work closely with local health services to assess our training programmes, with the aim of developing innovative treatment options for those experiencing affective disorders. Click here more information on MemFlex, our current memory-based intervention, and here for our previous work on Memory Specificity training.  We presented an overview of our approach in the following publication:

Dalgleish, T., & Hitchcock, C. (2023). Transdiagnostic distortions in autobiographical memory recollection. Nature Reviews Psychology, 2(3), 166-182.

Affective Disorders are characterised by deficits in executive control that seem particularly marked in the context of affectively-laden self-relevant information. We are exploring the potential of working memory training using such emotional material to deliver transferable gains in affective processing across diverse cognitive domains. Ongoing studies focus on healthy participants and patient groups with depression and PTSD, and utilise behavioural and functional MRI evaluation methods to examine the size of training and transfer effects and the brain systems that underlie them. Please see the following publications for some detail on the discovery science and interventions:

Dunning, D. L., Parker, J., Griffiths, K., Bennett, M., Archer-Boyd, A., Bevan, A., Ahmed, S., Griffin, C., Foulkes, L., Leung, J., Sakhardande, A., Manly, T., Kuyken, W., Williams, J. M. G., Blakemore, S. J., & Dalgleish, T. (2024). Sustaining attention in affective contexts during adolescence: age-related differences and association with elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety. Cognition & emotion, 1–13. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2024.2348730 PDF

Songco, A., Patel, S. D., Dawes, K., Rodrigues, E., O’Leary, C., Hitchcock C., Dalgleish, T., & Schweizer, S. (2022). Affective working memory in depression. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001130 PDF

Schweizer, S., Auer, T, Hitchcock, C., Lee-Carbon, L., Rodrigues, E & Dalgleish, T. (2022) Affective Control Training (AffeCT) reduces negative affect in depressed individuals.  Journal of Affective Disorders 313, 167-176. PDF

Krause-Utz, A., Walther, J. C., Schweizer, S., Lis, S., Hampshire, A., Schmahl, C., & Bohus, M. (2020). Effectiveness of an Emotional Working Memory Training in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Proof-of-Principle Study. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 89(2), 122-124.  PDF

Du Toit, S. A., Kade, S. A., Danielson, C. T., Schweizer, S., Han, J., Torok, M., & Wong, Q. J. (2020). The effect of emotional working memory training on emotional and cognitive outcomes in individuals with elevated social anxiety. Journal of Affective Disorders, 261, 76-83. PDF

Schweizer, S., Satpute, A.B., Atzil, S., Field, A.P., Hitchcock, C., Black, M., Feldman Barrett, L. & Dalgleish, T (2019). The behavioral and neural effects of affective information on working memory performance: a pair of meta-analytic reviews. Psychological Bulletin, 145, 566-609. http://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/vxrmp PDF

Schweizer, S., Parker, J., Leung, J., Griffin, C., & Blakemore, S. (2019). Age-related differences in affective control and its association with mental health difficulties. Development and Psychopathology, 1-13. PDF

Schweizer S, Navrady L, Breakwell L, Howard RM, Golden AM, Werner-Seidler A, Dalgleish T. (2018) Affective enhancement of working memory is maintained in depression. Emotion. doi: 10.1037/emo0000306. PDF

Schweizer, S., Samimi, Z., Hasani, J., Moradi, A., Mirdoraghi, F., & Khalegh, M. A., (2017). Improving cognitive control in adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 93, 88-94. PDF

Schweizer, S. & Dalgleish, T. (2016). The impact of affective contexts on working memory capacity in healthy populations and in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Emotion, 16(1), 16. PDF

Schweizer, S., Grahn, J., Hampshire, A. & Dalgleish, T. (2013). Training the emotional brain: Improving affective control through emotional working memory training. Journal of Neuroscience, 33, 5301-5311. PDF LA Times

Schweizer., S., Hampshire, A., & Dalgleish, T. (2011). Extending Brain-Training to the Affective Domain: Increasing Cognitive and Affective Executive Control through Emotional Working Memory Training. PLoS One, e24372. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024372 PDF

Humans are fundamentally social. We create a diversity of  social hierachies within the family, at work and in our social lives. Our positions in these social hierarchies are dependent on our ability to detect social cues relating to inclusion and rejection, and our subjective well-being relies on how effective we are at translating this information into our self-esteem. It has been argued that depression is an evolutionarily adapted response to losing rank status, associated with prolonged involuntary subordination, submissive behaviour, perceived inferiority and low social-risk behaviours. We are investigating the hypothesis that individuals with a history of depression show chronically facilitated cognitive processing of social rejection information alongside maladaptive processing of social affiliation and inclusion cues. Our ongoing studies focus on adolescence as a particularly sensitive period for the prioritisation of affiliation and status goals .

See the following examples of our work so far:

Orben, A., Blakemore, S-J.,  Dalgleish, T., Meir, A., & Mills, K. (2024). The mechanisms linking social media use to adolescent mental health. Nature Reviews Psychology 3, 407–423 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/  PDF

Ahmed, S. P., Piera Pi-Sunyer, B., Moses-Payne, M. E., Goddings, A. L., Speyer, L. G., Kuyken, W., Dalgleish, T., & Blakemore, S. J. (2024). The role of self-referential and social processing in the relationship between pubertal status and difficulties in mental health and emotion regulation in adolescent girls in the UK. Developmental Science, 27(4), e13503. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13503 PDF

Gillard, J., Werner-Seidler, A., Dalgleish, T.*, & Stretton, J*. (2023). Script-driven imagery of socially salient autobiographical memories in major depressive disorder. Scientific Reports, 13(1):14577. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41486-7. PDF

*joint senior authors

Follett, D., Hitchcock, C., Dalgleish, T*. & Strettong, J*. (2023). Reduced Social Risk-Taking in Depression. Journal of psychopathology and clinical science 132 (2), 156. PDF

*joint senior authors

Stretton, J., Walsh, N., Mobbs, D., Schweizer, S., van Harmelen, A., Lombardo, M., Goodyer, I. & Dalgleish.T. (2021). How biopsychosocial psychiatric risk shapes behavioral and neural responses to social evaluation in adolescence. Brain and Behaviour 2021;11:e02005  PDF

Fritz J., Stretton J., Askelund A.D., Schweizer S., Walsh N.D., Elzinga B.M., Goodyer I.M., Wilkinson P.O., & van Harmelen A.L. (2020). Mood and neural responses to social rejection do not seem to be altered in resilient adolescents with a history of adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 32, 411-423. PDF

Ahmed, S., Foulkes, L., Leung, J.T., Griffin, C.,  Sakhardande, A., Bennett, M., Dunning, D.L., Griffiths, K., Parker, J., Kuyken, W., Williams, J.M.G.,  Dalgleish, T.  & Blakemore S.J. (2020). Susceptibility to prosocial and antisocial influence in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.07.012. PDF

Dalgleish, T., Walsh, N.D., Mobbs, D., Schweizer, S., van Harmelen, A-L., Dunn, B., Dunn, V., Goodyer, I., & Stretton, J. (2017) Social pain and social gain in the adolescent brain: A common neural circuitry underlying both positive and negative social evaluation. Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/srep42010. PDF

For more information on our clinical trials please also see the Cambridge Centre for Affective Disorders (C2:AD) website.

Together with collaborators across the UK (e.g., Professors Williams and Kuyken at Oxford, Professor Blakemore at the University of Cambridge), we were investigators on the MYRIAD project. Adolescence is a vulnerable time for the onset of mental illness, with half of mental disorders beginning by the age of 15. Training psychological resilience during this critical time  therefore has the potential to minimise the onset and severity of mental health issues. Our thesis was that one potential way of improving psychological resilience is through training mindfulness, and the MYRIAD project comprised a number of clinical trials, meta-analyses and mechanism-based projects to investigate this. 

Following on from the main MYRIAD schools-based trial, through a process of reverse translation we distilled a core ingredient of the schools-based mindfulness programme – psychological decentering – and compiled a novel low intensity intervention for at risk adolescents. The publications for this latest part of the MYRIAD study to date are here:

Bennett MP, Knight RC, Dunning D, et al. Protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating an intervention to boost decentering in response to distressing mental experiences during adolescence: the decentering in adolescence study (DECADES). BMJ Open 2022;12:e056864.

Bennett, M.P., Knight, R., Patel, S., So, T., Dunning, D., Barnhofer, T., Smith, P., Kuyken, W., Ford, T., & Dalgleish, T. (2021). Decentering as a core component in the psychological treatment and prevention of youth anxiety and depression: a narrative review and insight report.

Knight, R., Dalgleish, T., & Bennett, M.P. (preprint). An Investigation of the Mental Health and Cognitive Correlates of Psychological Decentering in Adolescence.

The full list of the outputs from the wider MYRIAD project can be found here.

The main initial publications for MYRIAD that were part of a special issue of BMJ: Mental Health:

Axford, N., Berry, V., Lloyd, J., & Wyatt, K. (2022). How can we optimise learning from trials in child and adolescent mental health?. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2022-300500

Kuyken, W., Ball, S., Crane, C., Ganguli, P., Jones, B., Montero-Marin, J., Nuthall, E., Raja, A., Taylor, L., Tudor, K., Viner, R.M., Allwood, M., Aukland, L., Dunning, D., Casey, T., Dalrymple, N., De Wilde, K., Farley, E.R., Harper, J., Kappelmann, N., Kempnich, M., Lord, L., Medlicott, E., Palmer, L., Petit, A., Philips, A., Pryor-Nitsch, I., Radley, L., Sonley, A., Shackleford, J., Tickell, A., MYRIAD team, Blakemore, S.J.*, Ukoumunne, O.C.*, Greenberg, M.T.*, Ford, T.*, Dalgleish, T.*, Byford, S.*, & Williams, JMG*. (2022). Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2021-300396

*Joint senior authors

Kuyken, W., Ball, S., Crane, C., Ganguli, P., Jones, B., Montero-Marin, J., Nuthall, E., Raja, A., Taylor, L., Tudor, K., Viner, R.M., Allwood, M., Aukland, L., Dunning, D., Casey, T., Dalrymple, N., De Wilde, K., Farley, E.R., Haper, J, Hinze, V., Kappelmann, N., Kempnich, M., Lord, L., Medlicott, E., Palmer, L., Petit, A., Philips, A., Pryor-Nitsch, I., Radley, L., Sonley, A., Shackleford, J., Tickell, A., MYRIAD team, Blakemore, S.J.*, Ukoumunne, O.C.*, Greenberg, M.T.*, Ford, T.*, Dalgleish, T.*, Byford, S.*, & Williams, J.M.G*. (2022). Effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision on teacher mental health and school climate: results of the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2022-300424

*Joint senior authors

Montero-Marin, J., Allwood, M., Ball, S., Crane, C., De Wilde, K., Hinze, V., Jones, B., Lord, L., Nuthall, E., Raja, A., Taylor, L., Tudor, K., MYRIAD team, Blakemore, S.J.*, Byford, S.*, Dalgleish, T.*, Ford, T.*, Greenberg, M.*, Ukoumunne., O.C.*, Williams, J.M.G.*, & Kuyken, W.* (2022). School-based mindfulness training in early adolescence: what works for whom, and how in the MYRIAD trial?. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2022-300439

*Joint senior authors

Dunning, D., Ahmed, S., Foulkes, L., Griffin, C., Griffiths, K., Leung, J.T., Parker, J., Piera Pi-Sunyer, B., Sakhardande, A., Bennett, M., Haag, C., Montero-Marin, J., Packman, D., Vainre, M., Watson, P., MYRIAD team, Kuyken, W*., Williams, J.M.G*, Ukoumunne, O.C.*, Blakemore, S.J.*, & Dalgleish, T.* (2022). The impact of mindfulness training in early adolescence on affective executive control, and on later mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A randomised controlled trial. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2022-300460

*Joint senior authors

Dunning, D., Tudor, K., Radley, L., Dalrymple, N., Vainre, M., Ford, T.*, Montero-Marin, J.*, Kuyken, W*., & Dalgleish, T*. (2022). Do mindfulness-based programmes improve the cognitive skills, behaviour and mental health of children and adolescents? An updated meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2022-300464

*Joint senior authors

Cuijpers, P. (2022). Universal prevention of depression at schools: dead end of challenging crossroad? [Editorial]. BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health Editorial. Doi: 10.1136/ebmental-2022-300469

For more information on our clinical trials please also see the Cambridge Centre for Affective Disorders (C2:AD) website.

A transdiagnostic approach to treating affective disorders across the lifespan

Anxiety and mood disorders are common conditions, affecting up to 20% of adults. The presentation of these disorders can often be complex, with many individuals experiencing comorbid anxiety and mood disorders. Current treatment approaches are ‘disorder-specific’, and work well for those who fit neatly into a single diagnosis, but are far less effective for those with multiple diagnoses. We have therefore developed a new psychological treatment for anxiety and mood problems; Shaping Healthy Minds. Instead of focusing on any single diagnosis, Shaping Healthy Minds combines the best treatment techniques into 10 modules, each of which targets problems common across the different mood and anxiety diagnoses (e.g., intense emotions, negative thinking, upsetting memories, distressing habits). We have just completed a Phase II feasibility trial to determine the effectiveness of Shaping Healthy Minds, compared to NHS treatment as usual, in improving symptoms for those with multiple diagnoses with positive results:

Black, M., Johnston, D., Elliott, R., O’Leary, C., Patel, S., Smith, A., … & DALGLEISH, T. (2024). A randomised controlled feasibility trial (the HARMONIC Trial) of a novel modular transdiagnostic intervention—Shaping Healthy Minds—versus psychological treatment-as-usual, for clinic-attending adults with comorbid mood, stressor-related and anxiety disorders. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7muz5

We present an overview of our transdiagnostic approach in the following paper:

Dalgleish, T., Black, M., Johnston, D., & Bevan, A. (2020). Transdiagnostic approaches to mental health problems: Current status and future directions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(3), 179–195. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000482 PDF

The treatment of traumatic stress in children and young people

Along with Richard Meiser-Stedman at UEA, Patrick Smith and Bill Yule at KCL and David Clark and Anke Ehlers we have spent the last 30 years elucidating the nature of traumatic stress reactions in children and young people and developing and evalauting an intervention – Trauma-Focused Cognitive Therapy. The intervention is now recommended in NICE Guidance for PTSD and our work has informed the introduction of a diagnosis of Preschool PTSD in the DSM-5.

Some of our recent publications:

Meiser-Stedman, R., Allen, L., Ashford, P. A., Beeson, E., Byford, S., Chow, J., … Dalgleish, T.* & Smith, P*. (2025). A phase II pragmatic randomised controlled trial of cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents exposed to multiple traumatic stressors: The DECRYPT trial. World Psychiatry.

*Joint senior authors

Smith, P., Ehlers, A., Carr, E., Clark, D. M., Dalgleish, T., Forbes, G., … & Meiser‐Stedman, R. (2025). Early‐stage randomised controlled trial of therapist‐supported online cognitive therapy for post‐traumatic stress disorder in young people. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Online First. PDF

Coleman, O., Baldwin, J. R., Dalgleish, T., Rose-Clarke, K., Widom, C. S., & Danese, A. (2024). Research Review: Why do prospective and retrospective measures of maltreatment differ? A narrative review. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 10.1111/jcpp.14048. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14048 PDF

McKinnon, A., Smith, P., Bryant, R., Salmon, K., Yule, W., Dalgleish, T., Dixon, C., Nixon, C., & Meiser-Stedman, R., (2016). An update on the clinical utility of the Children’s Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 29(3), 253-258. PDF Copy of 10-item CPTC1-S

Hiller RM, Halligan SL, Ariyanayagam R, Dalgleish T, Smith P, Yule W, Glucksman E, Watson P, Meiser-Stedman R. (2016) Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Trajectories in Parents of Children Exposed to Motor Vehicle Collisions.  J Pediatr Psychol, 41(1), 108-116. PDF

Dalgleish, T., Goodall, B., Chadwick, I., Werner-Seidler, A., McKinnon, A., Morant, N., Schweizer, S., Panesar, I., Humphrey, A., Watson, P., Lafortune, L., Smith, P., & Meiser-Stedman, R. (2015). Trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy versus treatment-as-usual for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young children aged 3-8 years: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Trials, 16(1), 116. PDF

Meiser-Stedman, R., Shepperd, A., Glucksman, E., Dalgleish, T., Yule, W., & Smith P. (2014). Thought control strategies and rumination in youth with acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder following single-event trauma. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 24, 47-51. PDF

Nixon, R.D., Meiser-Stedman, R., Dalgleish, T., Yule, W., Clark, D.M., Perrin, S., & Smith, P. (2013). The Child PTSD Symptom Scale: An update and replication of its psychometric properties. Psychological Assessment, 25, 1025-1031. PDF

Meiser-Stedman, R., Dalgleish, T., Yule, w., & Smith, P. (2012). Intrusive memories and depression following recent non-traumatic life events in adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders, 137, 70-78. PDF

Salmond, C., Meiser-Stedman, R., Glucksman, E., Thompson, P., Dalgleish, T., & Smith, P. (2011). The nature of trauma memories in acute stress disorder in children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 560-570. PDF

Meiser-Stedman, R., Dalgleish, T., Glucksman, E., Yule, W. & Smith P. (2009). Maladaptive cognitive appraisals mediate the evolution of posttraumatic stress reactions: A 6-month follow up of child and adolescent assault and motor vehicle accident survivors.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 188, 778-787.

Meiser-Stedman, R., Smith, P., Bryant, R., Salmon, K., Yule, W. Dalgleish, T. & Nixon, R. (2009). Development and validation of the Child Post-Traumatic Cognitions Inventory (CPTCI). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 432-440. PDF

Meiser-Stedman, R., Smith, P., Glucksman, E Yule, W. & Dalgleish, T. (2008). The post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis in pre-school and elementary school-aged children exposed to motor vehicle accidents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 1326-1337. PDF Editorial In this issue of AJP News item on BBC online

Dalgleish, T., Meiser-Stedman, R., Kassam-Adams, N., Ehlers, A., Winston, F., Smith, P., Bryant, B., Mayou, R. & Yule, W. (2008). Predictive validity of acute stress disorder in children and adolescents. British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 392-394. Dalgleish et al ASD 3 centres BJP

Smith, P., Yule, W., Perrin, S., Tranah, T., Dalgleish, T. & Clark, D. (2007). Cognitive Behavior Therapy for PTSD in Children and Adolescents: a Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46, 1051-1061. smith_et_al_JAACAP_2007 Guardian online article

Meiser-Stedman, R., Dalgleish, T., Smith, P., Yule, W., Bryant, B., Ehlers, A., Mayou, R., Kassam-Adams, N. & Winston, F. (2007). Dissociative symptoms and the Acute Stress Disorder diagnosis in children and adolescents: A replication of Harvey & Bryant (1999).Journal of Traumatic Stress, 20, 359-364. meiser_stedman_et_el_asd_JOTS

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