Our Research

Our mission is to improve the understanding of, and responses to, mental health issues and mental disorders by undertaking and promoting critical and ethical appraisal of evidence, claims, assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs.

Our top 5 most cited papers

1. Jureidini JN, Doecke CJ, Mansfield PR, Haby MM, Menkes DB, Tonkin AL. Efficacy and safety of antidepressants for children and adolescents. BMJ. 2004 Apr 10;328(7444):879-83. doi: 10.1136/bmj.328.7444.879. Erratum in: BMJ. 2004 May 15;328(7449):1170. PMID: 15073072; PMCID: PMC387483. [461 citations]
2. Le Noury J, Nardo, JM, Healy D, Jureidini J, Raven M, Tufanaru C, Abi-Jaoude E. Restoring Study 329: efficacy and harms of paroxetine and imipramine in treatment of major depression in adolescence . BMJ 2015;351:4320. [388 citations]
3. Timimi S, Moncrieff J, Jureidini J, Leo J, Cohen D, Whitfield C, Double D, Bindman J, Andrews H, Asen E, Bracken P, Duncan B, Dunlap M, Albert G, Green M, Greening T, Hill J, Huws R, Karon B, Kean B, McCubbin M, Miatra B, Mosher L, Parry S, DuBose Ravenel S, Riccio D, Shulman R, Stolzer J, Thomas P, Vimpani G, Wadsworth A, Walker D, Wetzel N, White R; 33 Coendorsers. A critique of the international consensus statement on ADHD. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2004 Mar;7(1):59-63; discussion 65-9. doi: 10.1023/b:ccfp.0000020192.49298.7a. PMID: 15119688. [214 citations]
4. Mares S, Jureidini J. Psychiatric assessment of children and families in immigration detention--clinical, administrative and ethical issues. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2004 Dec;28(6):520-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-842x.2004.tb00041.x. PMID: 15707200. [184 citations]
5. Jureidini, J. N., McHenry, L. B., & Mansfield, P. R. (2008). Clinical trials and drug promotion: Selective reporting of study 329. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 20(1-2), 73-81. [147 citations]

Citation counts according to Google Scholar, last updated 29 March 2025.

Current projects

Work and unemployment: vital to effective suicide prevention

In Australia, an individualistic psychological perspective on suicide prevention is emphasised. Broadening this to include societal and structural factors that contribute to suicide will improve our opportunities to work to reduce suicide rates. This research focuses on factors related to employment and unemployment, including analysis of government policies, working conditions, and local community strategies.

CEMH is collaborating with Dr Toby Freeman's research group (Stretton Health Equity) on this MRFF Million Minds Mental Health Research Grant-funded project. As part of this work, the CEMH group has developed and is trialing training packages for primary healthcare practitioners (including General Practitioners and frontline workers in job agencies) to build knowledge and skills for addressing unemployment as a key social determinant of suicidal distress. These training packages will be further developed as The Social Prescription, which we anticipate continuing the work of the MMRF project once that funding expires in February 2026.

A Restoring Invisible and Abandoned Trials (RIAT) reanalysis of the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS)

Increasing numbers of children and adolescents are being prescribed antidepressants, despite uncertainty about the benefits and harms. Most antidepressants remain contraindicated for use in juveniles because they significantly increase the risk of self-harm and suicidal behaviour. Despite this, dispensing rates have increased in many countries, with trends led largely by guidelines from the United States that have asserted the safety and effectiveness of fluoxetine for adolescents.

Funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) was an influential trial of fluoxetine and counselling.The study recruited 12-17-year-old adolescents with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and randomised them to fluoxetine, psychotherapy (cognitive-behavioural therapy; CBT), combined fluoxetine and CBT, or placebo-based intervention.The TADS team reported that fluoxetine was effective and safe for use in adolescents and that participants who received combined therapy demonstrated the best outcomes. While TADS' design, methodology and reporting has been strongly criticized, its findings still inform the basis of many international treatment guidelines as it has garnered over 48 publications and 1000 citations.

The RIAT initiative provides an important mechanism for increasing accountability in clinical trials. RIAT’s systematic methodology aims to address selective and misleading outcome reporting in clinical trials through rigorous reanalysis of trial data. We reanalysed the TADS dataset using RIAT methodology to report on key effectiveness and safety outcomes as specified by the original TADS protocol, alongside additional safety outcomes. We have published three papers to date about our reanalysis.

The language of mental health

Understanding and addressing the social determinants of health (SDH) is widely accepted as critical to sustainably improving health outcomes for people in the Northern Adelaide region, South Australia’s most socially-disadvantaged, high-risk population. Current national pregnancy care guidelines highlight the importance of SDH screening during pregnancy, yet clinicians meeting with pregnant women or infants may not understand how to adequately assess, or know how best to respond to family and social circumstances (e.g., family violence, food/housing insecurity, unemployment). This project aims to enhance psychosocial care provided during the perinatal period by training clinicians to better manage SDH. Our team has unique skills in developing such training packages informed by psychiatric, linguistic and pedagogic experience and expertise. Our overarching goal is to improve the long-term health trajectories for both children and parents through reducing adverse experiences for parent and infant during the perinatal period. 

PhD project: Towards a new paradigm for the diagnosis and treatment of Attention/Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (Sheelah Mills)

This project is a critical narrative review of the epistemology of ADHD as a medical disorder. Epistemology refers to the process of analysing the strategies by which knowledge has developed, but it also addresses whether explanations are superior to alternatives. The aim is to establish how well the medical foundations of ADHD can withstand logical and empirical criticism, and whether current conceptualisations and diagnostic and treatment interventions require reconsideration.

An evaluation of simulation-based teaching of social and emotional health

This project has evaluated the Paediatric Mental Health Training Unit's (PMHTU) medical student teaching program with favourable results.

Antidepressant withdrawal survey

We conducted a survey to better understand the experience in Australia of withdrawing from antidepressants. Data collection has now closed for analysis, but we still encourage people to email us about their experiences with antidepressant withdrawal.

The Not Broken project

CEMH is hosting a project in development that aims to counter the increasing public perception that more and more people have broken brains. More on this soon.

The impact of Early childhood education and care (ECEC) on maternal and child mental health, and child protection outcomes

ECEC have anecdotally positive impacts on children’s mental health and child protection outcomes, though the matter appears sparsely characterised in academic literature. We were funded by the Minderoo Foundation to undertake a systematic review that summarised key concepts and evidence to consolidate what is known from research papers regarding ECEC during the first three years of life. This review was synthesised into a report for consideration by Thrive by Five to influence Australian policymakers. An academic manuscript is also currently under preparation, registered with Prospero: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023424285