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Dr Andrew Watson is a Clinical Psychologist and Research-Lead at the PICuP Clinic. He specialises in interventions for people affected by psychosis, trauma, and bipolar disorder.

Dr Watson received a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Essex, before going on to complete an MSc in Neuroscience at Imperial College London, and a PhD focussing on cognitive difficulties in psychosis, at the Insittute of Neurology (University College London). 

He then trained clinically and was awarded a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (King's College London), where he specialised in psychological approaches to psychosis. He has worked with people across the lifespan, and maintains a keen interest in trialling the development and effectiveness of new interventions to reduce distress for those experiencing difficulties associated with psychosis.

Research

Dr Watson is the research lead for PICuP, and is passionate about the importance of service audit and evaluations to ensure improvements to patient experience. 

He has delivered lectures and workshops for undergraduates and post-graduates on cognitive difficulties in psychosis, and supervised both undergraduate and post-graduate research projects across various topics relating to psychosis.

Dr Watson's primary research interests are in cognitive difficulties in severe mental illness, and the development and evaluation of "third-wave" interventions. He is a fervent supporter of narrowing the digital divide in access to equitable healthcare. His work has led to multiple publications in world-leading journals.

Publications

Watson AJ, Harrison L, Preti A, Wykes T, Cella M (2022) Cognitive trajectories following onset of psychosis: a meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2022.131 

Watson, A. J., Giordano, A., Suckling, J., Barnes, T. R. E., Husain, N., Jones, P. B., … Joyce, E. M. (2022). Cognitive function in early-phase schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: IQ subtypes, brain volume and immune markers. Psychological Medicine, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721004815 

Haime, Z., Watson, A. J., Crellin, N., Marston, L., Joyce, E., & Moncrieff, J. (2021). A systematic review of the effects of psychiatric medications on social cognition. BMC Psychiatry, 21(1), 597. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03545-z 

Watson, A., Mellotte, H., Hardy, A., Peters, E., Keen, N., & Kane, F. (2021). The digital divide: Factors impacting on uptake of remote therapy in a South London psychological therapy service for people with psychosis. Journal of Mental Health (Abingdon, England), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2021.1952955 

Krynicki, C. R., Dazzan, P., Pariante, C. M., Barnes, N. M., Vincent, R. C., Roberts, A., … BeneMin Study team. (2021). Deconstructing depression and negative symptoms of schizophrenia; differential and longitudinal immune correlates, and response to minocycline treatment. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 91, 498–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.10.026 

Deakin, B., Suckling, J., Barnes, T. R. E., Byrne, K., Chaudhry, I. B., Dazzan, P., … BeneMin Study team. (2018). The benefit of minocycline on negative symptoms of schizophrenia in patients with recent-onset psychosis (BeneMin): A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet. Psychiatry, 5(11), 885–894. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30345-6 

Wykes, T., Joyce, E., Velikonja, T., Watson, A., et al., (2018). The CIRCuiTS study (Implementation of cognitive remediation in early intervention services): Protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 19(1), 183. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-018-2553-3   

Watson, A. J., Joyce, E. M., Fugard, A. J. B., Leeson, V. C., Barnes, T. R. E., & Huddy, V. (2017). More haste less speed: A meta-analysis of thinking latencies during planning in people with psychosis. Psychiatry Research, 258, 576–582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.09.003 

Reeder, C., Pile, V., Crawford, P., Cella, M., Rose, D., Wykes, T., … Callard, F. (2016). The Feasibility and Acceptability to Service Users of CIRCuiTS, a Computerized Cognitive Remediation Therapy Programme for Schizophrenia. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 44(3), 288–305. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465815000168 

Tulloch, A. D., Soper, B., Görzig, A., Pettit, S., Koeser, L., Polling, C., … Thornicroft, G. (2016). Management by geographical area or management specialised by disorder? A mixed-methods evaluation of the effects of an organisational intervention on secondary mental health care for common mental disorder. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK349063/ 

Watson, A., & Joyce, E. (2015). Cognitive reserve and neuropsychiatric disorders. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 4, 142–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.05.003 

Robotham, D., Evans, J., Watson, A., Perdue, I., Craig, T., Rose, D., & Wykes, T. (2015). Linking a research register to clinical records in older adults’ mental health services: A mixed-methods study. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, 7(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-015-0103-8 

Watson, A., Cella, M., & Wykes, T. (2014). Cognitive therapies for refractory schizophrenia. In Treatment–refractory schizophrenia: A clinical conundrum (pp. 121–137). New York, NY, US: