Associate Professor Christine Lochner recently added another string to her bow when she won a prestigious National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Award – otherwise known as a "Science Oscar".
Lochner received the TW Kambule-NSTF Award in the Researcher Category. This was in recognition for her contributions through research over a period from 6 years up to 15 years of research. Her focus has mainly been on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), described as “a common and debilitating condition that contributes to individual and societal suffering and massive economic costs".
Co-director of the SAMRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders and with a PhD in Psychiatry, Lochner is no stranger to awards. She has previously received, among others, the Rafaelson Fellowship Award for outstanding young investigators in neuropsychopharmacology research by the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmicologicum (CINP), the Lundbeck International Neuroscience Foundation (LINF) Sponsorship Award for young scientists, NRF rating and the Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence from Stellenbosch University.
Commenting on her latest achievement, she described the awards as a "celebration of South African excellence and a lovely surprise. It's a feather in one's cap to be a recipient of an award of this prestigious nature. I'm thankful for the recognition and encouragement."
Lochner said the award was also a golden opportunity to put the spotlight on the importance of scientific research in the field of mental health and how this can benefit society.
Since 2001, Lochner has launched several awareness campaigns and comprehensively collected clinical and genetics data from almost 1000 patients with obsessive-compulsive conditions as well as MRI data from a subset, culminating in an extensive database that has led to collaborations with leading scientists worldwide, and resulted in numerous publications.
Asked why it her work on raising awareness about OCD is important, she said there are about 1.2 million people in South Africa with OCD or obsessive-compulsive related disorders (OCRD). OCD is an important mental disorder given its prevalence and associated disability.
"Knowledge about OCD and about OCRDs (such as trichotillomania) has grown exponentially over the last 20 years, but it seems that there are still a number of myths – a disconnect between what OCD really is and how the average person understands it. For example, people often confuse being neat and organized with having OCD!
"I am hopeful that my work, and that of my colleagues, on OCD and OCRDs will contribute to close that knowledge gap, and to help people to learn what these conditions are about. This will likely increase empathy for, and patience with those with the condition, and facilitate help-seeking. If a person (or the parent of a young child) are able to recognize and label symptoms, then he or she is more likely to seek help, and to seek help from an appropriate clinician.
"I believe my work contributes to current knowledge of these impairing conditions which may translate into increased accuracy of diagnosis and better care – of the individual as well as society. The burden of disease associated with these conditions – i.e. on a personal/emotional level, as well as the financial burden – is thus ultimately decreased by work of this nature and scale. The quality of life of these patients and their loved ones will hopefully subsequently improve."
Expanding on how this condition can lead to suffering and costs, she said: "These disorders are associated with significant distress and functional impairment – for the individual, for the people who care for him/her, his/her family or his/her significant others, as well as society.
"In addition to mental burden, there is a significant economic/monetary cost to living with OCD. For example: to the individual with washing/cleaning concerns and compulsions, the expense related to cleaning/disinfecting materials; to those with harm-related concerns, the expense of driving back and forth to check for potential damage, or extensive phone calls to check/prevent harm, or to those with illness/body concerns, the extensive visits to specialists and repeated examinations. Also, OCD is often associated with comorbidities – for example, a significant number of people with OCD have depression requiring clinical attention. Adding to this, the reduced efficacy at work – it all adds up.
"It can be concluded that successful treatment of OCD has the potential to provide significant economic benefits – for the individual and for society."
Asked what is next for her in her career, Lochner said while the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown have brought about many challenges, she will continue with her teaching and supervision at the university.
"Over the next five years, my primary research interests will remain focused on the compulsivity/impulsivity spectrum of disorders, including OCD, trichotillomania and problematic use of the internet.
"With colleagues and collaborators, I hope to continue contributing to work linking the significant clinical aspects of OCD and OCRD with their neurobiological underpinnings, as well as linking them with specific brain structures.
"I am also involved in a number of other foci, all with local and international collaborators and have been awarded a grant from the National Research Foundation to conduct a multinational project that aims to advance personalized medicine in the area of clinical neuroscience.
"My work is not nearly done."
Photo credit: Wilma Stassen
