Lucy FoulkesAcademic

Prudence Trust Research Fellow and NIHR Senior Research Fellow

Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford is based in Oxford West and Abingdon (Oxford)

Cited in UK press coverage of health & social care

2 citations

Across 1 topic, first on 27 Aug 2026.

Biography

Dr Lucy Foulkes is an academic psychologist in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, where she holds a Prudence Trust Research Fellowship and an NIHR Senior Research Fellowship. Her research group focuses on adolescent mental health and social development, and is known for examining the effects of mental health awareness efforts and school mental health interventions. She co-authored the Prevalence Inflation Hypothesis, which proposes that mental health awareness campaigns may paradoxically contribute to increased reporting of mental health problems by leading to overinterpretation of everyday distress. She is the author of two books — 'What Mental Illness Really Is (and What It Isn't)' and 'Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us' — and has written for outlets including the Guardian, New Scientist, and Wall Street Journal. Her group's work has been featured on BBC2's Newsnight, BBC Radio 4, and in The Times, The Economist, and The New York Times.

References

1.Lucy Foulkes — Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford — Confirms current role as Prudence Trust Research Fellow and NIHR Senior Research Fellow at Oxford; describes research focus on adolescent mental health, school interventions and mental health awareness effects
2.Lucy Foulkes — Penguin Books — Confirms authorship of 'What Mental Illness Really Is' and media appearances including BBC Radio 4, Newsnight, The Times, and Guardian contributions
3.Are mental health awareness efforts contributing to the rise in reported mental health problems? A call to test the prevalence inflation hypothesis — New Ideas in Psychology — Primary source for the Prevalence Inflation Hypothesis co-authored by Foulkes and Andrews (2023)
4.Dr Lucy Foulkes — St John's College, University of Oxford — Confirms Prudence Trust Research Fellowship and NIHR Senior Research Fellowship at Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology
5.Lucy Elizabeth Foulkes — York Research Database

Expertise

Cited on

Mental health

Stated areas of expertise

Adolescent mental health
Overdiagnosis and prevalence inflation
Mental health awareness unintended consequences
School mental health interventions
Self-diagnosis of mental disorders
Youth mental health policy

Notable achievements

Co-authored the Prevalence Inflation Hypothesis (with Jack Andrews, 2023), proposing that mental health awareness efforts may be contributing to the rise in reported mental health problems. Source ↗
Appointed NIHR Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, in addition to holding a Prudence Trust Research Fellowship. Source ↗
Published 'Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us' (Penguin, July 2024), her second book on adolescent development and mental health. Source ↗
Co-authored a 2025 scoping review on potential harm from school-based group mental health interventions, published in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Source ↗

What they’ve said

“Part of my work as an academic involves trying to solve the puzzle of why so many more people, especially young people, are reporting symptoms of mental illness compared to even five or 10 years ago.”
Psychologist at the University of Oxford · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · Are we really overdiagnosing mental illness? ↗
“Lucy Foulkes explores the possibility that the rising numbers of young people receiving a diagnosis of mental illness or ADHD are subjects of overdiagnosis”
Author cited on overdiagnosis of mental illness and ADHD · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · Diagnosing mental health conditions need not be a case of yes/no | Letters ↗

Source references

Are we really overdiagnosing mental illness?theguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Diagnosing mental health conditions need not be a case of yes/no | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Professors, researchers and think-tank analysts quoted on the strength of their research rather than a clinical role. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.