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Research Center

Section on Psychosis

Leadership

Stephen R. Marder, M.D.
Director

Contact Info

Section on Psychosis Website

marder@ucla.edu

About

The Section on Psychosis includes research and clinical programs that focus on understanding and treating psychotic illnesses, particularly disorders in the schizophrenia spectrum. The Center for the Assessment and Prevention of Prodromal States (CAPPS) program identifies and supports youth at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. The Aftercare Research Program is an outpatient research clinic that provides assessment and treatment and conducts research with people who have recently experienced psychotic symptoms. The Green Laboratory is a clinical research team dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders through a better understanding of cognition, social cognition, and motivation. The Clinical Trials Unit provides a setting for clinical research studies that are focused on schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses. Other programs affiliated with the Section on Psychosis include the VA Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, the Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans (THRIVe), and the UCLA Psychosis Clinic.

Research into Psychosis

Research at the in the center fall under one of three main laboratories:

While all three conduct research in the same field, and there are many collaborations among them, each has a unique approach to cognitive neuroscience research that is reflected in their respective research projects.

Services for Psychosis

  • UCLA Schizophrenia Clinic – detail to follow
  • Aftercare Research Program – an outpatient research clinic that provides the clinical site for the recruitment, pharmacological and psychosocial interventions, and assessments of symptoms and functional outcome for first-episode patients who are participating in research projects in this Center. The primary mission of the Aftercare Research Program is to provide a structured and high quality clinical care setting within which this Center research can take place. The Aftercare Research Program provides a centralized and standardized process for screening and diagnosing first-episode schizophrenia patient participants, providing their clinical services and completing high-quality longitudinal assessments of symptoms, work functioning, and social functioning.
  • San Fernando Mental Health Center – Affiliated with the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, the San Fernando Mental Health Center (SFMHC) is a community mental health center operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH), providing a broad array of psychiatric services to over 1800 patients with serious and persistent mental illness.  Clinical services include a crisis evaluation unit, adult outpatient services, an assertive community treatment team and a Wellness Center.  As Medical Director of SFMHC, Dr. Kopelowicz oversees 7 staff psychiatrists, 5 registered nurses, 4 licensed psychologists, 6 licensed clinical social workers as well as UCLA medical students, psychiatric residents and post-doctoral fellows. Psychosocial and psychopharmacological treatments are provided throughout the patients’ participation at SFMHC.   Psychosocial treatments are available in both English and Spanish and include family psychoeducation, Alliance for the Mentally Ill groups, supported employment, and training in social and independent living skills.  A heavy emphasis is placed on skills training; classes are offered in illness self-management, community re-entry, basic conversation, recreation for leisure, money management, and strategies for avoiding illicit drugs and alcohol.  The research program at SFMHC has been in place for the past 14 years and has been the principal site for over 20 NIMH- and pharmaceutical industry-funded studies.

People

  • Stephen Marder

  • Keith Nuechterlein

  • Michael Green

  • Yuri Rassovsky

  • Junghee Lee

  • Jonathan Wynn

  • Shirley Glynn

  • Kenneth Subotnik

  • Alex Kopelowicz

  • John Luo

  • Elizabeth Bromley

  • Joel Braslow

  • Rose Zhaohui Cai

Affiliated