Rücklab – Psychiatry research at Karolinska Institutet

We are happy to announce that yet another article is coming out of the Rück Research Group! This time, Christian Rück and colleagues are co-authors on a paper titled “Genome-wide association study of major anxiety disorders in 122,341 European-ancestry cases identifies 58 loci and highlights GABAergic signaling”.

In this large genome-wide study, the researchers identified 58 independent genome-wide significant risk variants for major anxiety disorders and found substantial genetic correlation between major anxiety disorders and depression, neuroticism and other internalizing phenotypes. The findings also highlight GABAergic signaling as a potential mechanism, advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of major anxiety disorders.

Congratulations to everyone involved! 🎉

Link to Article

---

---

Below are two recent news items from the past weeks involving the research group leader and Professor of Psychiatry, Christian Rück.

A couple weeks ago, Christian Rück took part in a wide-ranging discussion on mental health on the talk show Skavlan & Sverige, hosted by Fredrik Skavlan. The panel also included Pernilla Wahlgren, Gabor Maté, Ebba Witt-Brattström, Nisse Hallberg, Elaine Eksvärd, and Ludmila Engquist. Link: Episode Skavlan

In a second news item, Christian Rück appeared as an expert in a TV4 report on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The report was based on Mikaela Eklund’s personal experience of living with OCD. Christian Rück explained how the disorder can manifest and stressed that effective treatments are available – primarily cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and medication. Link: Tv4

Last week, the entire CAPRI team gathered for a conference day meant to kick off the new research center. We discussed organization of the operations, how to proceed with the various tracks, and the state of psychiatric research in general. Jakob Forssmed, the Swedish Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health, joined the discussions in the afternoon, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing psychiatric care and its availability. Along with other guest speakers and delicious meals at Hantverket, this brought interesting discussions, effective team building, and great inspiration!

We are happy to welcome Paula Wurth, who joined us last month as a PhD student in the Rücklab statistical modeling team! She holds a M.Sc. in Psychology from Stockholm University. Her research explores the use of coercive measures in involuntary psychiatric in-patient care (restraint, seclusion, forced medication). The project seeks to understand who is most at risk of being subjected to these measures and what their long-term consequences may be. Her main supervisor is Fredrik Johansson. Co-supervisors are John Wallert, Christian Rück and Anna-Clara Hollander (Department of Global Public Health).

We warmly welcome her! 👏

Today our PhD’s Martin Turesson and Leoni Grossmann together with research assistant Erik Melin participated in AI-dagen at Karolinska Institutet, presenting two projects on AI and suicide prevention after involuntary psychiatric care. One presentation highlighted findings from our nationwide study on suicide after involuntary care, now published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe

We also presented our work on a new AI-based risk calculator to support discharge decisions after involuntary psychiatric care—using nationwide data to provide transparent, individual risk estimates for key adverse outcomes.

In the past week, we’ve seen two separate contributions from the members of the Rück Research Group in Swedish media. Katja Ivanova was among the authors of a Svenska Dagbladet debate article on the integration of research findings in Swedish schools, which you can find here.

Yesterday, Christian Rück’s piece on how we talk about trauma in our everyday interactions was published in Dagens Nyheter. Read it here!

We’re proud to highlight the important work on PTSD carried out by Maria Bragesjö. A couple of weeks ago she welcomed the Swedish Armed Forces for a talk focusing on PTSD. During their visit Maria explained what the PTSD diagnosis involves and how it can develop after traumatic events. She described common symptoms such as intrusive memories, physical reactions, and a persistent sense of threat. She also discussed the types of thoughts that often arise, for example, thoughts about danger or worries that something bad might happen again, and how these can influence daily life and overall functioning. Maria provided a brief overview of what happens in the brain during PTSD, describing how the alarm system becomes overactive and keeps the body responding as if the danger were still present.

Moreover, she emphasized that PTSD is treatable, and many people benefit from evidence-based therapies. Support is often available in primary care, and in some cases individuals may be referred to specialized psychiatric services.

Link to video with Maria Bragesjö and the Swedish Armed Forces

This week we found out that our application for funding to establish a new research center was approved. The Centre for Applied Psychiatric Research and Innovation (CAPRI) will be focusing on severe psychiatric conditions in high-intensity care settings, with the aim of furthering knowledge and creating better treatments for the most vulnerable patients. Main applicant for the centre is Christian Rück, who led the team to submit the application being granted 48 million sek by Forte. Congratulations, and thank you Forte! 🎉

We are happy to announce that yet another article is coming out of the Rück Research Group! This time we have Christian Rück and John Wallert as co-authors for a paper titled “Genome-wide association analyses identify distinct genetic architectures for early-onset and late-onset depression” published in nature genetics. The article investigates how genetic architectures can be leveraged to improve treatment design for different expressions of depression. Congratulations Christian and John! 🎉

The article can be found here.

We are happy to welcome our new research assistants, Erik Melin and Penny Taka, to the team!

Erik has a background in economics and a Magister Degree (Civilekonomexamen) from Linnéuniversitetet in Växjö. He is currently studying at KI, the third term of the Study Programme in Psychology. He will be assisting team members and leaders in John Wallert’s team with different tasks relating to their various research projects.

Penny is in her third year of the five-year study Programme in Psychology at the Karolinska Institute and holds a BSc in Business and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics. She has previous work experience from healthcare and business settings, and is now looking forward to supporting ongoing research projects as a research assistant!

A warm welcome to them both! 👏