Research groups
Colleges
Felicity Waite
BSc(Hons) DClinPsy PGCert CPsychol AFBPsS
Research Clinical Psychologist
- Deputy Lead, Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP)
- Wellcome Trust Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
The focus of my work is to develop more effective and easily accessible interventions for people experiencing distressing delusions and hallucinations, including working with young people at risk of psychosis. This involves identifying and testing the mechanisms underpinning psychotic experiences. Then using this theoretical understanding to develop effective treatments to enable people to feel safer, to feel happier and to reengage with the world. Finally, harnessing innovations in technology, such as virtual reality, to increase access to effective psychological interventions to patients throughout the NHS.
Three exciting projects I am currently involved in are the SleepWell trial, the gameChange project, and the Feeling Safe Study. In the SleepWell trial we hope to find out if treating sleep problems can prevent the onset of serious mental health problems in young people aged 14-25 years. The gameChange project aims to transform services for patients with psychosis by providing psychological therapies using immersive virtual reality. This NIHR invention4innovation funded project involves collaborations with the Royal College of Arts, the McPin Foundation, NIHR MindTech, OxfordVR, and multiple NHS trusts and universities across the UK. The Feeling Safe Study is a randomised controlled trial of a novel tranlsational psychological treatment for persecutory delusions.
Within the Wellcome Clinical Doctoral Fellowship, I will be working to develop a new psychological treatment to build self-confidence. Our self-concept is how we think and feel about ourselves. It shapes our interactions with the world and underpins many mental health problems, including psychotic experiences. To-date clinical research has typically focused on reducing the negative self-concept, yet this is only half the picture. This research will develop a treatment to build the positive self-concept.
Previously I worked on the Better Sleep Trial and SleepWell case series. Both projects tested psychological interventions targeting sleep: a key factor contributing to distressing psychotic experiences.
I am an HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist and completed my clinical doctorate at the University of Oxford. Prior to clinical training I worked on studies evaluating CBT for people at ultra-high risk of psychosis and developing approaches to promote recovery in early psychosis.
Key publications
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A targeted psychological treatment for sleep problems in young people at ultra-high risk of psychosis in England (SleepWell): a parallel group, single-blind, randomised controlled feasibility trial.
Journal article
Waite F. et al, (2023), Lancet Psychiatry, 10, 706 - 718
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Body image concerns in patients with persecutory delusions.
Journal article
Waite F. et al, (2023), Psychol Med, 53, 4121 - 4129
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Comparison of a theoretically driven cognitive therapy (the Feeling Safe Programme) with befriending for the treatment of persistent persecutory delusions: a parallel, single-blind, randomised controlled trial.
Journal article
Freeman D. et al, (2021), Lancet Psychiatry, 8, 696 - 707
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Automated virtual reality therapy to treat agoraphobic avoidance and distress in patients with psychosis (gameChange): a multicentre, parallel-group, single-blind, randomised, controlled trial in England with mediation and moderation analyses.
Journal article
Freeman D. et al, (2022), Lancet Psychiatry, 9, 375 - 388
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Treating Sleep Problems in Patients with Schizophrenia.
Journal article
Waite F. et al, (2016), Behav Cogn Psychother, 44, 273 - 287
Recent publications
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The experience of seeking and accessing help from mental health services among young people of Eastern European backgrounds: A qualitative interview study.
Journal article
Radez J. et al, (2024), Psychol Psychother
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Structural barriers to help-seeking in first-episode psychosis: A systematic review and thematic synthesis.
Journal article
Causier C. et al, (2024), Early Interv Psychiatry
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Framework for understanding movement and physical activity in patients diagnosed with psychosis.
Journal article
Diamond R. et al, (2024), BMJ Ment Health, 27
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Understanding unusual sensory experiences: a randomised experimental study of a school-based intervention for adolescents.
Journal article
Radez J. et al, (2024), Child Adolesc Ment Health, 29, 14 - 21
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Correction: Testing the combination of Feeling Safe and peer counselling against formulation-based cognitive behaviour therapy to promote psychological wellbeing in people with persecutory delusions: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (the Feeling Safe-NL Trial).
Journal article
Tolmeijer E. et al, (2023), Trials, 24