Dr Amy Perry

Research Associate in Psychological Medicine

Mood Disorders Research Group

Contact Details

Amy Perry is a Research Associate in Psychological Medicine

The aims of her research are to investigate genetic and other factors that may contribute to the aetiology of bipolar disorder and other related mood and psychotic illnesses, such as schizoaffective disorder and postpartum psychosis.

Amy has previously worked as a Psychology Assistant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, assisting with delivering psychological therapies to individuals living with chronic illness, in addition to working on a research project that aimed to improve the communication skills of clinicians caring for patients with cancer. She later joined the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the 狐狸视频 of Birmingham where she contributed to research that aimed to improve challenging behaviour in individuals with rare genetic disorders, specifically in those with Prader-Willi Syndrome.

In 2011, Amy became a member of the Mood Disorders Research Group in the Department of Psychiatry at the 狐狸视频 of Birmingham, where she played a key role by interviewing individuals with bipolar disorder about their psychiatric history for research. After developing a keen interest in perinatal psychiatry, she commenced studying for a PhD in January 2014, researching the causes of postpartum psychosis in bipolar disorder.

In October 2015, Amy joined the 狐狸视频 of Worcester along with her colleagues Professor Lisa Jones and Dr Katherine Gordon-Smith.

Qualifications

2019: PhD in Psychological Medicine

2009: BSc (Hons) Psychology (1st class)

Research

Amy is a member of the Bipolar Disorder Research Network (BDRN). BDRN consists of a collaboration between colleagues at the 狐狸视频 of Worcester and at Cardiff 狐狸视频. The overall aim of BDRN is to investigate the genetic and non-genetic determinants of bipolar disorder. Over 7500 participants have been recruited to BDRN, which is the largest sample of individuals with bipolar disorder in the world.

Amy has interviewed many women with bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis about their experiences of psychiatric illness following childbirth and became particularly interested in researching the aetiology of postpartum mood disorders. Since 2014, Amy has conducted the UK's first prospective study to assess a wide range of risk factors for episodes of postpartum psychosis and postnatal depression in women with bipolar disorder. Women who participated in this research were interviewed during their pregnancy and again following their delivery, which enabled the collection of very rich clinical data across the perinatal period. Some of the factors being assessed include sleep loss in the perinatal period, obstetric factors, medications, illness history and stressful life events.

Teaching

Amy delivers teaching on mood disorders, perinatal psychiatry and quantitative research methods across a range of disciplines, including midwifery, advanced clinical practice, paramedic science, nursing and psychology. She supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research projects and contributes to the Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme.

Memberships

2014 International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health

2011 Bipolar Disorder Research Network (BDRN)

2009 British Psychological Society

Publications

Selected publications since 2015

Total to date 37; h-index 23 (August 2024)

Link to Google Scholar profile page:

2024

Gordon-Smith, K., Hampshire, C., Mahoney, B., Perry, A., Lewis, K. J. S., Craddock, N., Jones, I., & Jones, L. (2024). Opportunities to engage in positive activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives of individuals with mood disorders. Journal of affective disorders, 345, 186–191.

Perry, A., Gordon-Smith, K., Lewis, K. J. S., Di Florio, A., Craddock, N., Jones, L., & Jones, I. (2024). Perinatal sleep disruption and postpartum psychosis in bipolar disorder: Findings from the UK BDRN Pregnancy Study. Journal of affective disorders, 346, 21–27.

2023

Casanova Dias, M., Kelson, M., Gordon-Smith, K., Perry, A., Craddock, N., Jones, L., Di Florio, A., & Jones, I. (2023). Borderline personality traits are differently associated with postpartum psychosis and postpartum depression episodes in women with bipolar disorder. Journal of affective disorders, 328, 81–86. .

Guintivano, J. et al. (2023). Meta-analyses if genome-wide association studies for postpartum depression. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 180 (12).

2021

Gordon-Smith, K., Ridley, P., Perry, A., Craddock, N., Jones, I., & Jones, L. (2021). Migraine associated with early onset postpartum depression in women with major depressive disorder. Archives of women's mental health, 24(6), 949–955.Perry, A., Gordon-Smith, K., di Florio, A., Craddock, N., Jones, L., & Jones, I. (2021).

Mood episodes in pregnancy and risk of postpartum recurrence in bipolar disorder: The Bipolar Disorder Research Network Pregnancy Study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 294, 714–722.

Perry, A., Gordon-Smith, K., Jones, L., & Jones, I. (2021). Phenomenology, Epidemiology and Aetiology of Postpartum Psychosis: A Review. Brain sciences, 11(1), E47.

Saunders, K., Jones, T., Perry, A., Di Florio, A., Craddock, N., Jones, I., Gordon-Smith, K., & Jones, L. (2021). The influence of borderline personality traits on clinical outcomes in bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorders, 23(4), 368–375.

The Bipolar Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. (2021) Genome-wide association study of over 40,000 bipolar disorder cases provides new insights into the underlying biology. Nature Genetics, 53(6), 817–829

2020

Perry A, Gordon-Smith K, Di Florio A, Fraser C, Craddock N, Jones L and Jones I. Adverse childhood experiences and postpartum depression in bipolar disorder. (2020) Journal of Affective Disorders, 263: 661-666

Gordon-Smith K, Perry A, Di Florio A, Forty L, Fraser C, Casanova-Dias M, Warne N, MacDonald T, Craddock N, Jones L and Jones I. Symptom profile of postpartum and non-postpartum manic episodes in bipolar I disorder: a within-subjects study (2020). Psychiatry Research, 284

2019

The Bipolar Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Genome-wide association study identifies 30 loci associated with bipolar disorder. (2019) Nature Genetics, 51: 793-803

Perry A, Gordon-Smith K, Webb I, Fone E, Di Florio A, Craddock N, Jones I and Jones L. (2019) Postpartum psychosis in bipolar disorder: no evidence of association with personality traits, cognitive style or affective temperaments. BMC Psychiatry, 19 (1): 395

2018

Di Florio A, Gordon-Smith K, Forty L, Kosorok MR, Fraser C, Perry A, Bethell A, Carddock N, Jones L and Jones I. Stratification of the risk of bipolar disorder recurrences in pregnancy and postpartum. (2018) British Journal of Psychiatry, 213(3): 542-547

Lewis KJS, Di Florio A, Forty L, Gordon-Smith K, Perry A, Cradock N, Jones L and Jones I. Mania triggered by sleep loss and risk of postpartum psychosis in women with bipolar disorder (2018) Journal of Affective Disorders, 225: 624-629

2017

Perry A, Gordon-Smith K, Jones L and Jones I. A visual timeline tool for tracking mood and medication perinatally in affective disorders (2017) Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 20(5): 709-710

2016

Perry A, Gordon-Smith K, Di Florio A, Forty L, Craddock N, Jones L and Jones I. Adverse Childhood Life Events and Postpartum Psychosis in Bipolar Disorder (2016). Journal of Affective Disorders, 205: 69-72

S. Marwaha, K. Gordon-Smith, M. Broome, P.M. Briley, A. Perry, L. Forty, N. Craddock, I. Jones, L. Jones. Affective instability, childhood trauma and major affective disorders. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2016; 190:764-771.

2015

Jones L, Metcalf A, Gordon-Smith K, Forty L, Perry A, Lloyd J, Geddes JR, Goodwin G.M, Jones I, Craddock N and Rogers, RD (2015) The prevalence and distribution of gambling problems in bipolar disorder in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Psychiatry 207:328-33.

External responsibilities

Amy has presented her research at national and international conferences. She regularly presents research findings and updates at research meetings to healthcare professionals and patient support groups.

She acts as a peer reviewer for academic journals including the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Frontiers, The Archives of Women's Mental Health and the Journal of Affective Disorders.