Emily A. Holmes

Holmes completed a B.A in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford in 1993.[5] The following year she obtained a master's degree in Social Science at the Institute of Psychology, Uppsala University in Sweden, where she worked with Gunnar Jansson on haptic/tactile perception in blind individuals.[6] Holmes received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London in 2000, under the supervision of Chris Brewin. Her research with Brewin focused on PTSD and intrusive memories.[7][8] Holmes received her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Cambridge University in 2005, mentored by Andrew Mathews. Her research with Mathews demonstrated the powerful role of mental imagery in generating emotional responses.[9][10]

Holmes was awarded the prestigious Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship in 2005 in support of her research at the University of Oxford.[11] In 2010, Holmes was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellowship and was appointed Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford.[5] From 2012 to 2016 Holmes was a Program Leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences unit at Cambridge University.[12]

Holmes's major interest is in mental imagery, its effect on emotion, and how it can be used in cognitive behavior therapy to increase the effectiveness of treatments for anxiety and mood disorders.[12] With Andrew Matthews, Holmes outlined three different ways that mental imagery alters emotional experiences.[13] First, mental imagery engages the same neurocircuitry that underlies the processing of sensory signals, which serves to direct attention towards potentially threatening stimuli, for example. Second, as a consequence of the overlapping neurocircuitry, one is able to mentally place oneself in an emotionally arousing situation and experience heightened emotions as if the situation were real. Third, the act of remembering past experiences may bring up emotions as if one were reliving the experience (autonoetic consciousness).

Holmes leads the Experimental Psychopathology and Cognitive Therapy Research Group (EPaCT) at the University of Oxford. EPaCT members have developed computerized technologies (including computer games) for psychotherapy to modify people's existing cognitive biases, change negative thinking styles, and reduce the impact of intrusive memories.[14][15][16] Holmes is part of a research team aimed at developing inexpensive yet effective therapies to help refugees recover from PTSD and other trauma-related psychological disorders.[17]

• Brewin, C. R., & Holmes, E. A. (2003). Psychological theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 23(3), 339–376.
• Holmes, E. A., Blackwell, S. E., Heyes, S. B., Renner, F., & Raes, F. (2016). Mental imagery in depression: Phenomenology, potential mechanisms, and treatment implications. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 249–280.
• Holmes, E. A., Brown, R. J., Mansell, W., Fearon, R. P., Hunter, E. C., Frasquilho, F., & Oakley, D. A. (2005). Are there two qualitatively distinct forms of dissociation? A review and some clinical implications. Clinical Psychology Review, 25(1), 1-23.
• Holmes, E. A., Grey, N., & Young, K. A. (2005). Intrusive images and “hotspots” of trauma memories in posttraumatic stress disorder: An exploratory investigation of emotions and cognitive themes. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 36(1), 3-17.
• Holmes, E. A., & Mathews, A. (2010). Mental imagery in emotion and emotional disorders. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(3), 349–362.

• Faculty Page
• Research Group
• Emily A. Holmes publications indexed by Google Scholar