BSMS > Research > Our researchers > Dr Nick Medford

Dr Nick Medford

PhD, MRCP, MRCPsych

Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry

Area of Expertise:

Clinical neuropsychiatry; Functional neuroimaging

Research Area(s):

Imaging, Neuroscience, Psychiatry

+44 (0)1273 873818

n.medford@bsms.ac.uk

Divisional Assistant:
Hazelle Woodhurst
+44 (0) 1273 873818
h.woodhurst@bsms.ac.uk

Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre (CISC), Rm 8,
Brighton & Sussex Medical School, BN1 9RR

Biography

Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, BSMS 2008-present

Clinical Lecturer in Neuropsychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London 2004-2008

Wellcome Clinical Research Fellow, Institute of Psychiatry, London 2001-2004

Clinical training posts in Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London 1998-2001

Clinical training posts in medicine and neurology, various hospitals 1994-1998

Education

BSc (Psychology, intercalated) First Class, University of London, 1990

MBBS, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, University of London, 1993

Research focus

I am interested in the phenomenology of psychiatric symptoms and subjective experience in healthy and pathological mental states, and how these relate to neurobiology and psychophysiology. My research uses functional MRI and other biological methods to study the biological substrates of anomalous experience. In particular I am interested in dissociative symptoms, such as depersonalization and dissociative motor (‘conversion’) disorders.

Current research

Research on the role and relevance of dissociative symptoms in the early stages of psychosis, using fMRI to explore the biological correlates of anomalous self-experience
Using virtual reality paradigms in the scanner to induce changes in the ‘sense of presence’ and examine the brain changes associated with these
Exploring the psychological and neurobiological effects of transient hyperammonemia in healthy individuals, using a combination of functional and quantitative MRI and cognitive tasks
Service-oriented research on the clinical neuropsychiatry service based at Hurstwood Park Neurosciences Centre, for which I am the clinical lead

Active collaborations

Research team

Current/recent laboratory funding/grants

Selected publications

Review articles and editorials:

Medford N, Critchley HD (in press). Interoception and Psychopathology. Chapter for inclusion in Phenomenological Neuropsychiatry (ed. A. Mishara), in press, Yale University.

Medford N, Sierra M, David AS. (2010) Depersonalisation Disorder. Chapter in New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press.

Medford N, Critchley HD (2010) Conjoint activity of anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex: awareness and response. Brain Structure and Function 214: 535-549.

Medford N, David AS (2006). Learning from repression: emotional memory and emotional numbing. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29: 527-528.

Medford N, Sierra M, Baker D, David AS (2005) Understanding and treating depersonalisation disorder. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 11: 92-100.

Medford N, Sierra M, David AS. Depersonalisation Disorder. Chapter in New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry, 2nd ed, 2009, Oxford University Press.

Aleman A, Medford N, David AS (eds.) (2006). The Cognitive Neuropsychiatry of Emotion and Emotional Disorders. Psychology Press Ltd, UK. (book)

Contributing author to Overcoming Depersonalisation And Feelings Of Unreality (ed. AS David) (2007) Constable Robinson Ltd, UK. (book)

Recent/selected full papers:

George S, Holt S, Medford N, Hildick-Smith D. Does a patent foramen ovale influence cognitive function in dialysis patients? Nephron Clin Pract, in press.

Sass LA, Pienkos E, Nelson B, Medford N. (2013) Anomalous self-experience in depersonalization and schizophrenia: a comparative investigation. Conscious Cogn 22: 430-41.

Sierra M, Medford N, Wyatt G, David AS. (2012) Depersonalization disorder and anxiety: A special relationship? Psychiatry Research 197:123-7.

Medford N. (2012) Emotion and the unreal self. Emotion Review 4: 139-144.

Minati L, Grisoli M, Franceschetti S, Epifani F, Granvillano A, Medford N, Harrison NA, Piacentini S, Critchley HD. (2012) Neural signatures of economic parameters during decision-making: a functional MRI (FMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and autonomic monitoring study. Brain Topography 25:73-96.

Minati L, Piacentini S, Ferrè F, Nanetti L, Romito L, Mariotti C, Grisoli M, Medford N, Critchley HD, Albanese A. (2011). Choice-option evaluation is preserved in early Huntington and Parkinson's disease. Neuroreport. 22: 753-7.

Minati L, Visani E, Dowell NG, Medford N, Critchley HD (2011) Variability comparison of simultaneous brain near-infrared spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging during visual stimulation. J Med Eng Technol 35: 370-6.

Minati L, Kress IU, Visani E, Medford N, Critchley HD (2011). Intra- and extra-cranial effects of transient blood pressure changes on brain near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurements. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 30:283-8.

Mania K, Medford N, Christodoulou J, Watten PL, Radulescu E, Critchley HD (2011). Exploring behavioural fidelity of synthetic stimuli while immersed in fMRI displays. Third International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 215-219.

Medford N, Sierra M, Logan AV, David AS (2010) Repressor subtype and perceptual defence. Psychosomatic Medicine 72: A108.

Minati L. Jones CL., Gray MA, Medford N, Harrison NA, Critchley HD (2009). Emotional modulation of visual cortex activity: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Neuroreport 20: 1344-1350

Brierley B, Medford N, Shaw P, David AS. (2007) Emotional memory for words- separating content and context. Cognition and Emotion 21: 495-521.

Baker D, Earle M, Medford N, Sierra M, Towell A, David AS (2007) Illness Perceptions in Depersonalization Disorder: Testing an Illness Attribution Model. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 14: 105-116.

Lawrence EJ, Shaw P, Baker D, Patel MX, Sierra M, Medford N, David AS (2007) Empathy and Enduring Depersonalisation:the Role of Self-Related Processes. Social Neuroscience 2: 292-306

Stringaris AK, Medford N, Giampietro V, Brammer MJ, David AS. Deriving meaning: distinct neural mechanisms in the semantic network. (2007) Brain and Language, 100: 150-162.

Medford N, Brierley B, Brammer M, Bullmore ET, David AS, Phillips ML. (2006) Emotional memory in depersonalization disorder. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging 148: 93-102.

Sierra M, Baker D, Medford N, Lawrence E, Patel M, Phillips ML, David AS. (2006) Lamotrigine as an add-on treatment for depersonalization disorder: a retrospective study of 32 cases. Clinical Neuropharmacology 29: 253-258.

Stringaris AK, Medford N, Giora R, Giampietro V, Brammer MJ, David AS. (2006) How metaphors influence semantic relatedness judgements: the role of the right frontal cortex. Neuroimage 33: 784-793.

Medford N, Phillips ML, Brierley B, Brammer M, Bullmore ET, David AS (2005) Emotional memory: separating content and context. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging 138: 247-258.

Sierra M, Baker D, Medford N, David AS. (2005) Unpacking the depersonalization syndrome: an exploratory factor analysis on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale. Psychological Medicine 35: 1523-1532.

Brierley B, Medford N, Shaw P, David AS. (2004) Emotional memory and perception dissociate in temporal lobectomy patients with amygdala damage. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 75: 593-599.

Medford N, Baker D, Hunter E, Sierra M, Lawrence E, Phillips ML, David AS (2003) Chronic depersonalization following illicit drug use: a controlled analysis of 40 cases. Addiction 98: 1731-36.

Baker D, Hunter E, Lawrence E, Medford N, Patel M, Senior C, Sierra M, Lambert MV, Phillips ML, David, A. S. (2003) Depersonalization disorder: clinical features of 204 cases. British Journal of Psychiatry, 182:428–433.

Kensinger EA, Brierley B, Medford N, Growdon JH, Corkin S. (2002) Effects of normal aging and Alzheimer's disease on emotional memory. Emotion 2: 118-134

Phillips ML, Medford N, Senior C, Bullmore E, Suckling J, Brammer M, Andrew C, Sierra M, Williams SCR, David AS. (2001) Depersonalization disorder: thinking without feeling. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging 108: 145-160.

Phillips ML, Medford N, Young AW, Williams L, Williams SC, Bullmore ET, Gray JA, Brammer MJ (2001). Time courses of left and right amygdalar responses to fearful facial expressions. Human Brain Mapping 12: 193-202