Adrianna Mendrek

Research Relevance

Over the years Dr. Adrianna Mendrek’s research has evolved around two major themes: 1) brain function in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, drug addiction & ADHD; 2) sex and gender differences/similarities in emotion and cognitive processing in psychopathology and in health. in recent years she has combined her long-standing passion for Eastern philosophy, dance, yoga and meditation, to delve into contemplative studies, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and creative arts therapies (CATs), especially dance movement therapy (DMT). She completed DMT training at the National Center for Dance Therapy, a division of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal last year.

Dr. Adrianna Mendrek started her research training in behavioural neurobiology investigating drug reward and neuropharmacological basis of psychomotor sensitization. In later years she moved to the clinical neuroimaging field trying to elucidate neurofunctional trait and state markers of schizophrenia. Subsequently, as an independent researcher, she established a program concerned with sex/gender differences in grave psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. Using various neuroimaging methods (fMRI, EEG/ERPs) Adrianna and her team revealed important differences in brain function between men and women with psychotic symptoms. At this moment in her career she is devoting more time to researching and evaluating body-centred approaches, such as MBIs and DMT.