Thousands of mental health patients could receive better treatment thanks to major study

Thousands of individuals in England with severe mental health problems are being recruited for a major study, aiming to develop personalised treatments for conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Supported by 10 NHS trusts, officials state the research could "transform" the understanding of severe mental illness.

The three-year GlobalMinds project is looking for 49,000 participants.

Eligible patients with severe depression and psychosis will be identified and contacted via NHS England’s DigiTrials service.

Participants will receive at-home sampling kits, enabling experts to combine genetic data from blood or saliva with questionnaire responses and NHS medical records.

The aim is to develop detailed data on severe mental health conditions to eventually improve diagnosis and potentially develop personalised treatments.

Dr Adrian James, NHS England’s national medical director for mental health and neurodiversity, said: “This major new study could transform our understanding of severe mental illness and lead to the dawn of a new era of personalised treatments for patients with conditions including schizophrenia and severe depression.

“People living with a severe mental illness are affected by their condition every day, and it can often lead to preventable physical conditions and shorter lifespans.

“The new study gives us the opportunity to change the way we treat these conditions and we’re using the NHS’s DigiTrials service to invite suitable people faster, fairly and at scale. I’d encourage anyone contacted to consider signing up to be part of this ground-breaking study.”

The study is being led by mental health data science company Akrivia Health in partnership with Cardiff University.

It has initially been launched in England and Wales, with plans to expand internationally.

Around 2,000 patients are already enrolled and 1,000 people with dementia will also take part.

Professor James Walters of Cardiff University, who is chief investigator on GlobalMinds, said the study “provides an unprecedented opportunity to uncover and identify the many personal and biological factors behind mental health conditions”.

He added: “Precision medicine has already revolutionised the treatment of cancer and other rare diseases and we want GlobalMinds to bring the same breakthroughs to mental health.

“By creating the first large-scale dataset linking both genetic and detailed routine clinical information, GlobalMinds will unlock a new era of personalised mental health care, so we can help tackle the global mental health crisis.”

Brian Dow, deputy chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “This study has real potential to deepen our understanding and open the door to a new generation of treatments for mental illness.

“The strength of the study lies in the partnership between researchers, the NHS and charities like ours, which means data can be powerfully fused with lived experience, with the voices of people experiencing mental illness remaining front and centre.”

According to the mental health charity Mind, around one in five adults in England have a common mental health condition, such as anxiety or depression, in any given week.

It also estimates the percentage of people reporting severe mental health symptoms rose from 7% in 1993 to nearly 12% in 2023/24.