Psychosis Research Group
Overview
People with mental illness, particularly psychotic disorders, have complex needs that often limit their full potential for social engagement, educational attainment, and employment. The first episode of psychosis and the preceding period of clinical and functional decline present a critical window for understanding underlying illness mechanisms and for developing early interventions aimed at optimising long-term treatment outcomes. The key theme of our research is to identify psychosis-specific risk and resilience factors within real-world developmental and social contexts, promote evidence-based pharmacological and psychosocial intervention research, including clinical trials, and contribute significantly to the teaching and training of professionals and researchers from low- and middle-income settings. Increasingly, our work seeks to understand how biological vulnerability interacts with social adversity and identity-based stressors to shape illness trajectories, lived experience, and recovery in psychosis.
Our history
The program was established in the mid-90s with a focus on pharmacological research in schizophrenia. In 2008, we embarked on a prospective study exploring the clinical, biological, and functional determinants of treatment outcome in first-episode schizophrenia. We focused on the pharmacology, efficacy, and tolerability of long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications in the treatment of first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Over time, the programme expanded to examine the course and outcomes of psychosis by complementing meticulous clinical evaluation with methodologies such as neuroimaging and virtual reality. We also explored the role of environmental exposures and childhood trauma in disease onset and progression, contributing to a broader understanding of psychosis as emerging through the interaction of neurodevelopmental, biological, and social processes in resource-constrained settings. Our program provides opportunities for PhD- and Master’s-level training for scientists, clinicians, and psychologists, with a particular focus on women, black psychiatrists, and people with disabilities.
Our mission
To be a premier research group that develops innovative scientific approaches to improve our understanding of psychotic disorders through engagement with local, continental, and international collaborators, stakeholders, and the communities we serve.
Our vision
To be a premier research group that develops innovative scientific approaches to improve our understanding of psychotic disorders through engagement with local, continental, and international collaborators, stakeholders, and the communities we serve.
Our values
- Integrity
- Responsibility
- Diversity
- Innovation
- Excellence
Our people
Prof Laila Asmal
MBChB, FCPsych, MMed (Psych), MSc Clinical Epidemiology, PhD
Unit Director
Senior lecturer/Psychiatrist/Researcher
Interest area: Psychiatric epidemiology and neuropsychiatry.
Dr Hilmar Klaus Lückhof
MBChB, BScHons Pathology, MSc Pathology, PhD
Researcher
Interest areas: Sexual Health and Wellness in Schizophrenia; Metabolic syndrome and Psychosis; Stress Reactivity; Lived Experience
Prof Lebogang Phahladira
MBChB, DMH, FCPsych, PhD
Lecturer/Psychiatrist/Researcher
Interest area: Clinical course and outcome
Dr Retha Smit
PhD, MA Research Psych, BA (Hons) Applied Psych, BA Psych Counselling, Dip Gen Nursing & Obstetrics
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Clinical trials
Interest area: Investigates predictors of relapse other than treatment non-adherence in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Amogelang Ramatsetse
BHSc Phys & Psych, BHSc (Hons) Phys
MSc (Neuroscience) candidate & Research Coordination
Interest area: Extreme weather events and mental health outcomes in the Western Cape of South Africa
Dr Sanja Kilian
MA Clinical Psych, PhD Psych
Clinical Psychologist
Interest area: Cognitive and clinical outcomes in psychosis and the lived experiences of people living with psychosis and families' experiences of supporting a loved one living with a mental illness.
Dr Unity Chitapi
PhD, Occupational Therapist
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Interest area: Occupational Therapy, Occupational Science, Mental Health, Health Systems, Applied Medical Rehabilitation, and Disability.
Focus on human occupations and the intersection of poverty, politics, inequality, and disability/rehabilitation issues.
Mohhadiah Rafique
BSc Human Life Sci, BA (Hons) Psych Cum Laude, MA Research Psych
PhD (Psychiatry) Candidate
AVReQ Doctoral Fellow
Interest area: Exploring the meaning-making of schizophrenia and its recurrence in marginalised communities through an ecological perspective
Banele Banda
BA Applied Human Sci, BA (Hons) Psych
MSc (Neuroscience) candidate
Interest area: Social stress in a virtual environment and its relationship with childhood trauma in early schizophrenia
Tamera Chloe’ Moodley
BA Psych, BA Hons Psych Cum Laude
MSc (Neuroscience) Candidate
Interest area: Neuroendocrine mechanisms and adjunctive treatment in recent-onset schizophrenia.
Bianca Breytenbach
BSc Medical Science Cum Laude, BHSc (Hons) Neuroscience Cum Laude
MSc (Neuroscience) Candidate
Interest area: Baseline Predictors and Longitudinal Trajectories in Adiposity and MASLD Indices over 12 Weeks of Isoflavone Supplementation vs. Placebo in First-Episode Schizophrenia
Faizel Moosa
Driver
Employed since 2009.
Transports participants from outpatient facilities and hospital wards, and between the Tygerberg campus. He also assists with various tasks around the unit.
Prof Robin Emsley
MBChB FCPsych (SA) MMed (Psych) DMed DSc
Emeritus professor, Consultant
Interest area: The clinical, neurobiological and pharmacological aspects of schizophrenia.
Our current research
Our current projects explore different aspects of schizophrenia and related psychoses across the course of illness, guided by an interest in the factors that shape clinical presentation, recovery, and long-term outcomes. A key focus of the group is understanding how neurobiological vulnerability and environmental adversity interact to influence the development and course of first-episode psychosis, including the role of brain structure and neurodevelopmental processes. We are also increasingly using virtual reality approaches to better understand stress reactivity, self-experience, and stress-sensitive systems in more ecologically relevant ways. More broadly, our work increasingly brings together biological, phenomenological, and social perspectives on psychosis, with growing interests in lived experience, family member perspectives, social connectedness and adversity, climate-related stressors and extreme weather events, and collaborative psychosis research across African low- and middle-income settings.
Our work
The following link is an overview of our lab and highlights our academic publications to date.
https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Psychosis-Research-Program-Stellenbosch-University-PRP-Laila-Asmal
International collaborations
- Africa Psychosis Research Network
- Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium
- Lagos State University, Nigeria
- African Global Mental Health Institute (AGMHI)
- Global Mental Health Peer Network
- ANDES (Latin America Psychosis) Consortium
- International Consortium for Equity in Neuroscience (ICEN)