The Psychiatric research group at Tampere University conducts transdisciplinary research on several topics related to mental health, psychiatric disorders and their treatments, and mental health service systems.
The vision of the group is to advance scientifically ambitious, service-system-relevant mental health research in national and international collaboration.
Key research themes of the group
- Psychosocial interventions and healthcare systems
- Digital mental health interventions and service support systems
- Mental health service systems research, implementation studies, health economics, mental health policy and ethics.
- Digitally supported learning and competence development in mental health interventions
- Clinical studies, including large-scale RCTs
- Comorbidity of severe mental disorders and substance use disorders
- Epidemiology and real‑world effectiveness of psychiatric medications in individuals with comorbid severe mental disorders and substance use disorders.
- Birth cohort research on the mental health correlates and developmental consequences of substance use
- Serious mental illnessess and their treatments
- Antipsychotic medications, especially in treatment-resistant schizophrenia
- Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
Key ongoing projects
Psychosocial interventions and healthcare systems
- Effectiveness of internet-based therapy (iCBT) programs
- Digitally supported triage and mental health needs assessment (The Finnish Therapy Navigator systems)
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the First-Line Therapies model
- Development, recurrence, response, and consequences of mental disorders using large registry data and advanced statistical methods
- First-Line Therapies Stepped Care Randomized Controlled Trial (FLT-STEP)
- Evaluation, ethics, regulation and decision-making concerning AI-enhanced psychosocial interventions and mental health tools
- Development and validation of the therapy outcome measures (eg. CORE-OM, EPO-1, WSAS)
- E-learning and competence development in psychosocial interventions
Comorbidity of severe mental disorders and substance use disorders
- Improving prognosis and treatment outcomes in cannabis-related severe mental disorders (INDICA and CANNEXUS projects)
- Cannabis and labour market marginalization (CANN-LAB project)
- Joint and independent contributions of adolescent substance use and psychiatric symptomatology and liability to the risk and prognosis of psychiatric disorders
Serious mental illnesses and ECT
- Adverse effects, pharmacogenetics and metabolic effects of clozapine
- Consortium for Precision Treatment with ECT in Severe Depression (PRECISE –study)
- KetECT Biomarkers Study: Pioneering Personalized Depression Treatment
- European ECT project
- Rapid-Acting Antidepressants: From Preclinical Research to Clinical Application (HUMANOID)
- A Comprehensive Meditation and Breath Program (SKY) as an Adjunct Tool to Increase Wellness in Medical Doctors: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Group Composition
Researchers collaborate tightly with other Finnish universities and Well-Being Services Counties and with international research groups.
Psychosocial interventions research is part of the PsyTEAM – consortium, and conducted in collaboration with Universities of Oxford, Oslo, Trier,
Addiction psychiatry research is conducted in collaboration with Karolinska Institute (MENTE Group), University of Queensland, Australia (Child and Youth Research Group), Finnish Universities and Well-Being Services Counties including people with lived experience (Voimaa Arkeen - iniative).
Contact persons
Samuli Saarni, Professor
mental health service systems research, First-Line Therapies, ethics, decision-making, health policy, health technology assessment
samuli.saarni [at] tuni.fi
ORCID: 0000-0002-9348-5435
Suoma Saarni, Professor
RCT and register studies on psychosocial treatments, iCBT, Therapist education and e-learning systems
suoma.saarni [at] tuni.fi
Antti Mustonen, Professor
Comorbidity of severe mental disorders and substance use disorders
antti.mustonen [at] tuni.fi
Kaija Järventausta, Docent, Clinical Lecturer
ECT-studies, Medical education
kaija.jarventausta [at] tuni.fi
Susanna Rask, MD, PhD, Clinical Lecturer
Clozapine studies
susanna.rask [at] tuni.fi
Anssi Solismaa, MD, PhD, Clinical Lecturer
Clozapine studies
anssi.solismaa [at] tuni.fi