COMPLEX EMOTIONS HUB

Advancing understanding and care for people living with and experiencing complex emotions often associated with 'BPD', 'EUPD', 'cPTSD'*.

Research part of the UKRI Mental Health Platform

Art work created by our lived experience co-investigator

The Complex Emotions Hub is a five year UKRI-funded research programme, aiming to advance understanding and care for people living with and experiencing complex emotions often associated with 'Borderline Personality Disorder' (BPD), 'Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder' (EUPD), and 'Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' (cPTSD).

The Complex Emotions hub is one of six hubs of the UKRI Mental Health Platform, a network of researchers with the shared aim of accelerating research into severe mental illnesses (SMI) and improving the diagnosis and treatment of those affected.

Our Aims

To build on existing research and contribute to the growing knowledge base on complex emotions, particularly those often associated with 'Borderline Personality Disorder' (BPD), 'Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder' (EUPD), and 'Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' (cPTSD).
To deepen our understanding of the lived experiences of individuals, exploring the factors influencing their emotional challenges within the broader context of their lives.
To explore effective interventions and to positively transform care and outcomes for people affected by complex emotions.

What will this research involve?

The Complex Emotions Hub is led by Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Trust, with primary research sites in Sheffield and Plymouth. The project, funded for five years from April 2024, is developed in collaboration with a range of partners and universities including the McPin Foundation.

The Complex Emotions Hub will run over 5 years from 2024 - It has several different research stages within it. These research stages aim at deepening our understanding of the challenges faced by individuals with complex emotions, and the care they receive. This knowledge is being used to design and test new treatments and ways of helping that address these difficulties holistically and compassionately. Part of this research may also explore the potential of using wearables (such as smart watches) and AI algorithms to better support treatment.

Our focus is on improving the understanding and care of individuals dealing with emotional challenges often associated with 'Borderline Personality Disorder' (BPD), 'Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder' (EUPD), and 'Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' (cPTSD). Complex emotions can include difficulties in relationships, fears of abandonment, challenges with emotional regulation (including both intense emotions and detachment), and managing harmful impulses such as self-harm or suicidal feelings.

*Many people find these diagnoses to be stigmatising and harmful to their well-being, which is why we are committed to improving both understanding and care approaches for these experiences.

For more information on the different stages of the research project click on the links below.

1. Bringing together existing research

This stage maps the existing literature, related research and theories about complex emotions and 'BPD' to test later.

2. Cohort Study

This stage we recruit up to 300 people with lived experience of complex emotions in Sheffield and Plymouth regions. We work with this group of people for up to 3 years.

2a. In-depth understanding of experience - Interviews

Interviews are conducted to explore people’s experiences of their complex emotions to understand how emotions vary and what triggers them.

2b. Smartwatches/Digital Study

In this study people record their feelings, emotions and experiences in a Smartphone/Smartwatch several times a day. This will enable us to see how real-world triggers and events impact on people’s symptoms in real time.

3. Understanding patterns using health records

This study uses existing data sets of health records to examines how emotional, behavioural, and relationship instability appears. By analysing how these patterns change over time or in connection with other health conditions, we aim to improve the recognition of BPD in healthcare settings.

4. Developing new treatment/ approaches

We will use what we have learned to co-develop and test new ways of helping people who experience complex emotions associated with 'BPD' and other diagnoses, both within the NHS and other settings such as lived experience led projects in the voluntary sector.

Who are we?

The Hub brings together a diverse team of experts from various fields, including researchers with lived experience, to ensure that our work is grounded in real-world perspectives.

Meet Scott our Chief Investigator in the video below.

PARTNERS

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