Research groups
Colleges
Upcoming Workshops
Recent publications
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Developing an Automated Virtual Reality Therapy for Improving Positive Self-Beliefs and Psychological Well-Being (Phoenix VR Self-Confidence Therapy): Tutorial.
Journal article
Rosebrock L. et al, (2024), JMIR Serious Games, 12
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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.
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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.
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Causier C. et al, (2024), Early Interv Psychiatry
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Framework for understanding movement and physical activity in patients diagnosed with psychosis.
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Diamond R. et al, (2024), BMJ Ment Health, 27
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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).
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Tolmeijer E. et al, (2023), Trials, 24
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
- EPA Cephalosporin Junior Research Fellow, Linacre College
- NIHR Research Fellow
The focus of my work is to develop more effective and easily accessible interventions for people experiencing distressing delusions and hallucinations. 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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Treating sleep problems in young people at ultra-high-risk of psychosis: study protocol for a single-blind parallel group randomised controlled feasibility trial (SleepWell)
Journal article
WAITE F. et al, (2020), BMJ Open
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The psychological treatment of persistent persecutory delusions: an explanatory randomized controlled trial comparing a new theoretically-driven psychological treatment (Feeling Safe Programme) to befriending
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FREEMAN D., (2021), Lancet Psychiatry
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Freeman D. et al, (2022), Lancet Psychiatry, 9, 375 - 388
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Waite F. et al, (2022), Psychol Med, 1 - 9
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Forkert A. et al, (2021), Behav Cogn Psychother, 1 - 13
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Freeman D. et al, (2019), Schizophr Res, 211, 44 - 50
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Waite F. et al, (2016), Behav Cogn Psychother, 44, 273 - 287