Staff Profiles
Dr Lucy Robinson
Lecturer
- Email: lucy.robinson2@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: 0191 208 7912
Background
I am a lecturer in Clinical Psychology on the Newcastle Doctorate in Clinical Psychology programme. I joined the team in April 2017 from a clinical academic fellowship in Academic Psychiatry and the Regional Affective Disorders Service (RADS). I have a research and clinical interest in idiographic (person-specific) methods in mental health, including finding innovative ways to map out individual experience, such as dynamic network modelling. I also have an interest in interoception and individuals' perceptions of and reactions to their internal states. I am especially interested in how this relates to people's experience of distressing physical complaints and the role it may play in Persistent Physical Symptoms (sometimes called Medically Unexplained Symptoms or Functional Syndromes).
Before my clinical training, my PhD studies investigated neuropsychological function in Bipolar Disorder and I continue to have an interest in this area - especially metacognition and the way in which people come to understand their degree of cognitive ability and how this impacts on their daily functioning.
Qualifications:
2010-2013 Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Newcastle University, School of Psychology
2005-2010 PhD – Neuropsychological Performance, Emotion Processing and Psychosocial Function in Bipolar Disorder, Newcastle University, Institute of Neuroscience (Academic Psychiatry)
2002-2005 BSc (Hons) Psychology – 1st Class, Newcastle University
1999-2002 BA (Hons) Economics – 1st Class, University of Durham
Esteem indicators:
2015- External Examiner for University College London Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
Awards & Prizes:
2012 Associate Fellowship of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS)
Feb 2006 Robert Fischl Postgraduate Travel Award
July 2005 Mary Mckinnon Prize – Awarded by Newcastle University to the student with the highest overall mark
July 2005 British Psychological Society Award for Undergraduate Psychology – Awarded by the British Psychological Society to the student with the best performance in clinically relevant modules
Research Funding:
April 2014 Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust - Research Capability Funding (£15,192)
Durham, J. & Robinson, L.J. Exploring Dysautonomia’s Relationship with Catastrophisation in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
April 2012 Mental Health Foundation - Small-scale research grant
Freeston, M. H., Robinson, L. J., Harenwall, S., Zhao-O’Brien, J., Bottesi, G. Psychological processes in Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
April 2012 NTW Mental Health NHS Research & Development department; research grant (£1,000)
Freeston, M. H., Robinson, L. J., Harenwall, S., Zhao-O’Brien, J., Bottesi, G. Psychological processes in Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Dec 2006 Mental Health Foundation - Small-scale research grant
Gallagher, P., Barton, S., Freeston, M., Armstrong, P., Belshaw, T., Gray, J. M., Robinson, L. J., McAllister-Williams, R. H. CBT early intervention for treatment-resistant depression: potential neuroendocrine markers of response
Jan 2006 Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Research & Development department - Research grant
Robinson, L. J., Gallagher, P., Cousins, D. A., Corcoran, C., Fergusson, A., Gray, J. M., Ferrier, I. N. Factors influencing functional outcome in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder
Research
Whilst our understanding of various mental health difficulties has increased greatly over time, there are still a large number of people living with psychological distress that current treatments do not help. I am interested in understanding more about person-specific ways in which distress is caused and maintained in the hope we can find better ways of tailoring interventions to a specific individual. The aim of this personalised medicine approach for mental health is to bring the right treatment to the right person more quickly and achieve better outcomes than the current practice of working through a sequential series of treatment steps.
I am interested in any methods that further this endeavour. At the moment, network analysis and especially dynamic network modelling, hold great promise for bringing a different perspective to how we study mental health. The network approach conceptualises mental health difficulties as arising from mutually causal elements rather than the observed features (such as change in mood, fatigue, withdrawal, negative thoughts, changes in appetite) resulting from an unseen 'common cause'. For example, from a network perspective. depression would result from a series of causal interactions between experiences, thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, physiology and biology. This in contrast to established ways of thinking about disorders as a simple consequence of some central cause that triggers all of the symptoms. This opens the door to exploring the relationship between elements to identify causal and maintenance patterns and frees us up from specific syndromes as the units of interest (we know that many broad syndromes are comorbid, partly due to overlapping definitions, but also because the development of certain maintenance cycles can have knock on consequences that develop further maintenance cycles of distressing experiences). This has the potential to allow us to test whether some of our existing models are a reasonable account of what happens in mental health problems and will hopefully allow us to develop insights into maintenance mechanisms that are currently untargeted by existing treatments.
I have a number of projects underway collecting individual-level data and will be establishing a clinical dataset of ecological momentary assessment data on patients referred for treatment for depression and anxiety from January 2018.
I also have an interest in interoception and individuals' perceptions of and reactions to their internal states. I am especially interested in how this relates to people's experience of distressing physical complaints and the role it may play in Persistent Physical Symptoms (sometimes called Medically Unexplained Symptoms or Functional Syndromes).
Before my clinical training, my PhD studies investigated neuropsychological function in Bipolar Disorder and I continue to have an interest in this area - especially metacognition and the way in which people come to understand their degree of cognitive ability and how this impacts on their daily functioning.
Teaching
I teach evidence based practice, experimental design and research methods on the DClinPsy course.
I am also lead for the Service-Based Project.
Publications
- McAllister-Williams RH, Christmas DMB, Cleare AJ, Currie A, Gledhill J, Insole L, Malizia AL, McGeever M, Morriss R, Robinson LJ, Scott M, Stokes PRA, Talbot PS, Young AH. Multiple-therapy-resistant major depressive disorder: A clinically important concept. British Journal of Psychiatry 2018, 212(5), 274-278.
- Douglas KM, Gallagher P, Robinson LJ, Carter JD, McIntosh VVW, Frampton CMA, Watson S, Young AH, Ferrier IN, Porter RJ. Prevalence of cognitive impairment in major depression and bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders 2018, 20(3), 260-274.
- Sankar R, Robinson L, Honey E, Freeston M. ‘We know intolerance of uncertainty is a transdiagnostic factor but we don’t know what it looks like in everyday life’: A systematic review of intolerance of uncertainty behaviours. Clinical Psychology Forum 2017, 296, 10-15.
- Bezzina OM, Gallagher P, Mitchell S, Bowman SJ, Griffiths B, Hindmarsh V, Hargreaves B, Price EJ, Pease CT, Emery P, Lanyon P, Bombardieri M, Sutcliffe N, Pitzalis C, Hunter J, Gupta M, McLaren J, Cooper AM, Regan M, Giles IP, Isenberg DA, Vadivelu S, Coady D, Dasgupta B, McHugh NJ, Young-Min SA, Moots RJ, Gendi N, Akil M, MacKay K, Ng WF, Robinson LJ. Subjective and Objective Measures of Dryness Symptoms in Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome – Capturing the discrepancy. Arthritis Care & Research 2017, 69(11), 1714-1723.
- Robinson LJ, Durham J, Newton JL. A systematic review of the comorbidity between Temporomandibular Disorders and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation 2016, 43(4), 306-316.
- Miskowiak KW, Petersen JZ, Ott CV, Knorr U, Kessing LV, Gallagher P, Robinson L. Predictors of the discrepancy between objective and subjective cognition in bipolar disorder: a novel methodology. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 2016, 134(6), 511-521.
- Robinson LJ, Gray JM, Ferrier IN, Gallagher P. The effect of self-monitoring on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder: a pilot study. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 2016, 21(3), 256-270.
- Moss RA, Finkelmeyer A, Robinson LJ, Thompson JM, Watson S, Ferrier IN, Gallagher P. The impact of target frequency on intra-individual variability in euthymic bipolar disorder: A comparison of two sustained attention tasks. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2016, 7, 106.
- Robinson LJ, Durham J, MacLachlan L, Newton JL. Autonomic Function in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome With and Without Painful Temporomandibular Disorder. Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behaviour 2015, 3(4), 205-219.
- Robinson LJ, Gray JM, Burt M, Ferrier IN, Gallagher P. Processing of Facial Emotion in Bipolar Depression and Euthymia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2015, 21(9), 709-721.
- Porter RJ, Robinson LJ, Malhi GS, Gallagher P. The neurocognitive profile of mood disorders – a review of the evidence and methodological issues. Bipolar Disorders 2015, 17(Suppl. 2), 21-40.
- Robinson LJ, Freeston MH. Emotion and internal experience in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Reviewing the role of Alexithymia, Anxiety Sensitivity and Distress Tolerance. Clinical Psychology Review 2014, 34(3), 256-271.
- Robinson LJ, Thompson JM, Gallagher P, Gray JM, Young AH, Ferrier IN. Performance monitoring and executive control of attention in euthymic bipolar disorder: Employing the CPT-AX paradigm. Psychiatry Research 2013, 210(2), 457-464.
- Robinson LJ, Stevens LH, Threapleton CJD, Vainiute J, McAllister-Williams RH, Gallagher P. Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on attention and memory. Acta Psychologica 2012, 141(2), 243-249.
- Riby DM, Jones N, Brown PH, Robinson LJ, Langton SRH, Bruce V, Riby LM. Attention to Faces in Williams Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 2011, 41(9), 1228-1239.
- McAllister-Williams RH, Stevens L, Jones B, Cromarty R, Firth H, Robinson LJ, Gallagher P. Effects of the Oral Contraceptive Pill on Executive Function and Working Memory. In: Biological Psychiatry: 66th Annual Meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. 2011, San Francisco, California, USA: Elsevier Inc.
- Thomas AJ, Gallagher P, Robinson LJ, Porter RJ, Young AH, Ferrier IN, O'Brien JT. A comparison of neurocognitive impairment in younger and older adults with major depression. Psychological Medicine 2009, 39(5), 725-733.
- Robinson LJ, Thompson JM, Gallagher P, Goswami U, Young AH, Ferrier IN, Moore PB. A meta-analysis of cognitive deficits in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders 2006, 93(1-3), 105-115.
- Holmes MK, Gallagher P, Robinson LJ, Gray JM, Olivier P, Heslop P, Ferrier IN. Applications of virtual reality technology in the measurement of spatial memory in patients with mood disorders [2]. CNS Spectrums 2006, 11(6), 417-418.
- Robinson LJ, Ferrier IN. Evolution of cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder: A systematic review of cross-sectional evidence. Bipolar Disorders 2006, 8(2), 103-116.
- Holmes MK, Gallagher P, Robinson LJ, Gray JM, Olivier P, Heslop P, Ferrier IN. Immersive virtual reality assessment of spatial memory in patients with mood disorders. In: Bipolar Disorders: 2nd Biennial Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. 2006, Edinburgh, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
- Robinson LJ, Gallagher P, Ferrier IN. Neuropsychological impairment in bipolar disorder: the role of the HPA axis. Aspects of Affect 2006, 1, 92-98.
- Ling Y, Hurlbert AC, Robinson L. Sex differences in colour preference. In: Pitchford, N.J., Biggam, C.P, ed. Progress in Colour Studies 2: Psychological Aspects. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006, pp.173-188.
- Robinson LJ, Thompson JM, Gray JM, Hughes J, Young AH, Ferrier IN. Sustained attention in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder: A failure of context maintenance. In: Bipolar Disorders: 2nd Biennial Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. 2006, Edinburgh, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.