Dr Vilas Sawrikar
Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

Contact details
- Email: vilas.sawrikar@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Medical Quad
Teviot Place
Doorway 6, Rm 1.M8 - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
I am a Lecturer of Clinical Psychology in the School of Health and Social Sciences, registered Clinical Psychologist, and Health Data Analyst/Statistician. I completed my postgraduate studies at the University of New South Wales, Australia, where I completed a combined Masters/Phd in in Clincial Psychology. My research was focused on family-based interventions for child mental health. I was then fortunate to have postodoctoral research fellowships at the University of Sydney conducting mental health service research focusing on population health-oriented system approaches to prevention and treatment. Clinical psychology is a career change for me. I have also previously worked as a Health Economist implementing components of National Health Reform, including optimisation of hospital funding systems and resource allocation into practice. I aim to combine both professional skills focusing on clinical effectiveness research in mental health.
Qualifications
PhD in Clinical Psychology
Ms in Clinical Psychology
Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology
Graduate Diploma in Psychology
Ms Applied Statitistics
B Economics
Responsibilities & affiliations
Programme Director of Msc of Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches
Deputy Director of Centre of Applied Developmental Psychology
Neurocognitive Psychology Group Member
PGR PhD & MsR Application Review Panel Member
Lecturer in Clinical Psychology
Postgraduate teaching
MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches:
- Evidence-based Psychological Interventions for Children and Young People
- Parenting: Theory and Practice
MSc in Applied Psychology (Healthcare) For Children and Young People:
- Child and Adolescent Development
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Research summary
My research area is in the major forms of psychopathology found in childhood disorders (e.g., disruptive behaviour, externalising problems, ADHD, emotion dysregulation, anxiety etc) and child/family/social determinants of major mental disorders. I adopt methods from a range of disciplines, that include:
(i) Neurocognitive psychology where I study risk mechanisms that may underpin pathways from common childhood mental health problems (Disruptive Behaviour, Externalising Problems, Anxiety) to major mental disorders in adulthood. I explore neurocognitive vulnerabilities that may inform novel personalised approaches to treatment based on targeting key determinants of illness progression. I am particularly interested in links between transdiagnostic features of childhood psychopathology (i.e., emotion dysregulation) and common affective disorders (i.e., anxiety and mood disorders).
(ii) Evidence-based psychological interventions. I examine the clinical utility of psychological interventions for treating childhood mental health problems; especially for children with disruptive behaviour or externalising problems. My work emphasise the salience of family-based interventions and how parental factors influence treatment outcomes from psychotherapy.
(iii) Mental health service research where the focus is on improving the quality of mental health care in relation to effectiveness, efficiency, access and reach of evidence supported treatments for common mental disorders (e.g., anxiety, externalising behaviour, depression) in the community. To that end, I have been focused on 'staged care' which is an integrated care model that promotes prevention of common affective illnesses in the population.
Please refer to the research projects below about current activities focusing on personalising treatments for children, young people, and families/carers.
Current research interests
Clinical child and family psychology: child externalising problems; ADHD; family-based influences on child neurodevelopment and mental health (e.g., parenting, parent cognition; attachment; early adverse experiences), and child risk characteristics (e.g., temperament, emotion dysregulation, neurobiology).Past research interests
Health cost and funding systems to determine allocation of economic resourcesProject activity
I invite prospective students to contact me if they are interested in these current research projects:
1. Neurocognitive psychology associated with childhood mental disorders. This is pursued by employing cognitive neuroscience research methodology to understand subtypes of childhood mental health, in order to personalise treatment approaches according to notable neurodevelopmental characteristics of illness. We are doing some current work in understanding neurological mechanisms underlying the emergence of mental health problems (externalising/internalising) among children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
2. Role of irritability in comorbid externalising and internalising problems among young people. Irritability is a common dimension of mental ill health and may explain comorbid problems of externalising and internalising problems. I am interested in cognitive and emotional regulatory processes associated with irritability implicated in mood, self-harm and suicidality, as well as family processes involved in these problems.
4. Patient activation and self-management of mental health. The focus is on understanding processes in help-seeking, accessing, and engagement in various forms of family-management, self-management and professional help. To this end, I am interested in decision-making processes informed by behavioural economics to understand how best to promote family- and self-management of mental health.
5. Population health approaches for mental health ('right care, right time, right place'). I have been focused on 'staged care' which proposes that universal personalised healthcare can help reduce the occurrence and burden associated with affective disorders. Specific work includes building an evidence base for clinical staging for children and young people, stage-appropriate psychotherapy, stage-based stepped care, and workforce training in evidence-based practice and stage-based care.
-
Transdiagnostic clinical staging for childhood mental health: An adjunctive tool for classifying internalizing and externalizing syndromes that emerge in children aged 5-11 years
In:
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Barriers and facilitators to engaging mothers and fathers in family-based interventions: A qualitative systematic review
In:
Child psychiatry and human development
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Psychosocial interventions for depression delivered by non-mental health specialists to people living with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
In:
Journal of Global Health
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Global workforce development in father engagement competencies for family-based interventions using an online training program: A mixed-method feasibility study
(12 pages)
In:
Child psychiatry and human development
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01282-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Using staged care to provide “Right Care First Time” to people with common affective disorders
(13 pages)
In:
Psychiatric Services, vol. 72, pp. 691-703
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000145
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Outcome findings and issues in psychotherapy with children and adolescents: Externalizing disorders
Research output: › Chapter (Accepted/In press) -
Bridging the gap between child mental health need and professional service utilisation: Examining the influence of mothers’ parental attributions on professional help-seeking intentions
In:
European child & adolescent psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01682-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
How do mothers' parental attributions affect child outcomes from a positive parenting intervention? A mediation study
(12 pages)
In:
Child psychiatry and human development, vol. 51, pp. 597-608
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-019-00942-0
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Adapting family interventions for antisocial youth with psychopathic traits: The science of personalizing interventions
Research output: › Chapter (Accepted/In press) -
Right care, first time: A highly personalised and measurement‐based care model to manage youth mental health [article contribution]
In:
The Medical journal of Australia, vol. 211, pp. s42-s46
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50383
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
ParentWorks: Evaluation of an online, father-inclusive, universal parenting intervention to reduce child conduct problems
In:
Child psychiatry and human development, pp. 1-11
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-019-00934-0
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Parents’ spontaneous attributions about their problem child: Associations with parental mental health and child conduct problems
(12 pages)
In:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, vol. 47, pp. 1455-1466
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-019-00536-3
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)