Neurodivergence, loneliness, bullying and mental health

Fresh from publishing a new article, Professor Louise Arseneault, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Kings College London, joined the MQ Open Mind podcast team, Professor Rory O’Connor and Craig Perryman, to discuss collaboration in investigation.

Professor Louise Arseneault, from Montreal, is French-Canadian and studied Psychoeducation. Originally trained to work with people with mental health issues, her college degree did not lead directly to the career that would sustain her. She wanted, in her words, “a better way to help people who suffer” and so she decided to pursue a doctorate in biomedical sciences that ultimately led her into the world of research. She first began research by collecting data as part of a longitudinal data set (data collected over a long period of time). Her postdoctoral funding brought her to the UK and this podcast interview coincides with her 25th anniversary of living on her own in Britain.

Funding for her studies took her to the UK, but what led her to mental health research?

“What led me to mental health is that I always wanted to build a supportive relationship. I thought addressing physical health was too concrete. I didn’t want to work with arms or skin. I wanted to work with something that was more abstract. The mind is a great challenge.”

When she first entered mental health research, Louise humbly admits her own “lack of knowledge”, which fueled her desire to understand more. An invitation to continue her doctoral studies after graduating led her to research and, despite dealing with imposter syndrome, which she also admits to in this episode, 25 years later she is still researching.

Defining his career, he says, is the importance of data collection. Good quality data collection means good quality research. As she says, data quality is “the foundation of everything” and she laments that researchers view data collection as “just a step.” In her interview, she emphasizes the importance of not only the data collected, but also who collects it and therefore how it is funded.

From Montreal to London, her career took her to work with groups in New Zealand, establishing longitudinal data focused on aggressive behaviors. This move took her career to the next level of impact. She met with policy makers and shared her results. After working on a study established in New Zealand, her focus turned to research into mental health conditions, specifically their causes.

“While I wasn’t necessarily interested in a specific condition, I was very interested in risk factors and testing them and how much they actually contribute to the development of mental health problems.”

Bullying: it is no longer ruled out

After training, Louise worked on a long-term study that would become the National Child Development Study, which examined whether bullying in childhood could have a long-term impact. For Louise, this was the most impactful article she has ever participated in.

“Suddenly bullying, which for many years was dismissed as ‘oh, it’s part of life, it’s not important,’ was suddenly on the cover of the American Journal of Psychiatry.”

Suddenly, Louise became the scientific cover girl. Newspapers and other media outlets became interested and Louise became the center of attention, appearing in interviews, including on the Today show.

“Coming back from the BBC, I went back to my office, opened my computer, turned it on, looked at my emails and suddenly I got a lot of emails from the public saying, ‘Hey, I heard you this morning on the news and how described are you?’ my life’. For me that was a shock.”

Key results

But what were their findings that resonated? She explains an important finding in her career.

Compared to those who had not been bullied, participants in Louise’s research who were bullied between the ages of 7 and 11:

• had more symptoms of mental health problems
• more physical health problems
• had worse socioeconomic outcomes
• They hadn’t done so well in terms of employment.
• had trouble establishing relationships

So what needs to change? Louise says her research shows that policy changes should support any interventions in schools that aim to stop bullying behaviour. In her opinion, we should support anti-bullying programs in schools and she points out that schools have a responsibility to make their institution a safe place for all children, to prevent mental illness and suicide. She sees it as a rethinking of our approach as a society to the problem of bullying.

“We need to focus a little more on the victims. We need to ensure that victims are supported when they experience bullying victimization. “We don’t need to call the psychiatrist right away, but we need to be able to provide some kind of support network for those children who experience something traumatic.”

Soledad: a door to ask

The next step for Louise was to see the connection between childhood experiences, mental illness and loneliness. An interest began to develop in forms of poor social relations. Very often, she notes, we associate loneliness with older people, but it is important to recognize that loneliness is more prevalent among young people. She believes the link between childhood loneliness and mental illness is a vital area to focus on.

“If someone complains of loneliness, it is an entry into someone’s life that is not going so well. We shouldn’t rule that out at all. “We should use this door to do a little more research, especially as part of the pandemic that increased loneliness despite that narrative about access to social media.”

In fact, MQ is researching young people’s mental health after the pandemic and is supporting projects that seek to find solutions and new ways to treat mental health conditions in young people, and new studies will begin in this specific area in 2024.

Collaboration: data enrichment

Louise’s passion for powerful data is evident. The recent work includes a “fantastic team of people who were absolutely determined” to compile the broadest collection of data possible. They identified 8,000 data sets, 3,000 of which were in long-term data collection groups, in 146 countries. As she says, it is important to look at the entire world, not just high-income countries that have more resources. And these data sets don’t have to come solely from mental health studies.

“We have been very lucky to be able to work with MQ, who took on the challenge of ensuring that lived experience experts were part of this project at all times. The goal of the project was to really identify those data sets, so I was doing well, how can lived experience be involved in this? MQ really changed my view on engaging with lived experiences in the project.”

MQ established a theory of the change process that involves people with lived experiences and also people from different backgrounds. With MQ, Louise discussed the value of longitudinal data sets, how they could potentially be enriched and what areas of value would be to explore further in those data sets. She says that she and her colleagues really took this information on board and emphasizes the importance of the change affected by MQ.

“Very few longitudinal data sets work with lived experience experts, so this is one part of the enrichment that was made very clear in our report: we need to really promote engagement with service users, the community or people with lived experience.” to make sure this happens. “

If you would like to find out more about Lived Experience Experts or PPIE (Patient and Public Engagement) and how MQ encourages this, click this link and if you would like to participate in mental health studies, find out more about our Participate in the program here.