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Dr Nicolò Zarotti


    • Dr Nicolò Zarotti

    BSc, MSc, PhD, ClinPsyD, CPsychol, AFBPsS, FHEA

    Clinical Psychologist in Neuropsychology

    Year Qualified

    2022

    Clinical Interests

    Huntington's disease
    Parkinson's disease
    Motor neurone disease
    Multiple sclerosis
    Trauma & PTSD
    Social cognition

    Professional Profile

    Dr Nicolò Zarotti completed his undergraduate (BSc) and postgraduate (MSc) degrees in Psychology at the University of Trieste (Italy). He moved to the UK in 2013, where he went on to complete a PhD at Lancaster University focused on emotional processing and communication in Huntington's disease.


    Since then, he has been carrying out research aimed at developing psychological approaches to the understanding and treatment of psychological difficulties in adults with neurodegenerative conditions. This led him to co-author the first BPS national guidance on psychological interventions for people with Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, and multiple sclerosis.


    After obtaining his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (ClinPsyD) from the University of East Anglia, Dr Zarotti joined the Department of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, where he currently carries out his clinical and research activity as Clinical Psychologist within the Outpatient Services. In 2023 he also rejoined Lancaster University as Honorary Clinical Lecturer within the Division of Health Research (DHR). 

    Research Interests

    Dr Zarotti's main research interest revolves around psychological and neuropsychological approaches to mental health and cognitive difficulties in people with motor neurodegenerative conditions such as Huntington's disease, Parkinson's, motor neurone disease, and multiple sclerosis. Further interests include disorders affecting social cognition, perceived control, communication, and emotion recognition and regulation.

     

    Publications

    Academic Journals & Periodicals

    Zarotti, N., D’alessio, B., Scocchia, M., Casella, M., & Squitieri, F. (2024). “I Wouldn’t Even Know What to Ask for”: Patients’ and Caregivers’ Experiences of Psychological Support for Huntington’s Disease in Italy. NeuroSci, 5(2), 98–113. https://doi.org/10.3390/neurosci5020007

    Dale, M., Eccles, F. J. R., Melvin, K., Khan, Z., Jones, L., Zarotti, N., Kiani, R., Johnson, J., Wells, R., & Simpson, J. (2023). Guided self-help for anxiety among Huntington’s disease gene expansion carriers (GUIDE-HD) compared to treatment as usual: a randomised controlled feasibility trial. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 9(1), 159. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-023-01364-5

    Garner, I. W., Murray, C. D., Eccles, F. J. R., Zarotti, N., & Simpson, J. (2023). “I Feel Like I Work Full-Time for Parkinson’s”: A Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Parkinson’s Informal Caregivers during COVID-19 in England. NeuroSci, 4(2), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.3390/neurosci4020011 

    Zarotti, N., Deane, K. H. O., Ford, C. E. L., & Simpson, J. (2023). Perceived control as a predictor of medication adherence in people with Parkinson’s: A large-scale cross-sectional study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2023.2181409

    Zarotti, N. , Ford, C., & Gracey, F. (2023). The impact of clinical training changes on self-rated competency and confidence in neuropsychology: A survey of UEA-trained clinical psychologists in East Anglia. The Neuropsychologist, 15, 14-21. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsneur.2023.1.15.14

    Zarotti, N., Deane, K. H. O., Ford, C. E. L., & Simpson, J. (2023). Psychosocial interventions affecting global perceptions of control in people with Parkinson’s disease: a scoping review. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2023.2169376

    Zarotti, N., Poz, R., & Fisher, P. (2022). Compassion-Focused Therapy for an Older Adult with Motor Functional Neurological Disorder: A Case Study. Clinical Gerontologist, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/07317115.2022.2130124 

    Dale, M., Wood, A., Zarotti, N., Eccles, F., Gunn, S., Kiani, R., Mobley, A., Robertson, N., & Simpson, J. (2022). Using a Clinical Formulation to Understand Psychological Distress in People Affected by Huntington’s Disease: A Descriptive, Evidence-Based Model. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 12(8), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081222  

    Zarotti, N., Hudson, C., Human, H., Muratori, G., & Fisher, P. (2022). ‘It’s working together with what you’ve got’: Healthcare professionals’ experiences of working with people with combined intellectual disability and personality disorder diagnoses. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, June, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13020 

    Zarotti, N., Eccles, F., Broyd, A., Longinotti, C., Mobley, A., & Simpson, J. (2022). Third wave cognitive behavioural therapies for people with multiple sclerosis: a scoping review. Disability and Rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2069292 

    Eccles, F. J. R., Sowter, N., Spokes, T., Zarotti, N., & Simpson, J. (2022). Stigma, self-compassion, and psychological distress among people with Parkinson’s. Disability and Rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2037743 

    Zarotti, N., Tuthill, A., & Fisher, P. (2022). Online Emotion Regulation for an Adolescent With Misophonia: A Case Study. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1891/JCP-2021-0015 

    Zarotti, N., Dale, M., Eccles, F. J. R., & Simpson, J. (2022). More than Just a Brain Disorder: A Five-Point Manifesto for Psychological Care for People with Huntington’s Disease. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 12(1), 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12010064   

    Coates, E., Zarotti, N., Williams, I., White, S., Halliday, V., Beever, D., Hackney, G., Stavroulakis, T., White, D., Norman, P., & McDermott, C. (2021). Patient, carer and healthcare professional perspectives on increasing calorie intake in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Chronic Illness. https://doi.org/10.1177/17423953211069090 

    Simpson, J., Zarotti, N., Varey, S., Anestis, E., Holland, C., Murray, C., & Eccles, F. J. R. (2021). ‘It’s a double whammy’: A qualitative study of illness uncertainty in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease in the context of COVID-19. Chronic Illness, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/17423953211043101  

    Zarotti, N., Mayberry, E., Ovaska-Stafford, N., Eccles, F., & Simpson, J. (2021). Psychological interventions for people with motor neuron disease: a scoping review. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 22(1–2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/21678421.2020.1788094  – First article in volume.

    White, S., Zarotti, N., Beever, D., Bradburn, M., Norman, P., Coates, E., Stavroulakis, T., White, D., McGeachan, A., Williams, I., Hackney, G., Halliday, V., McDermott, C., & Group, T. H. (2021). The nutritional management of people living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): A national survey of dietitians. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12900  

    Eccles, F. J. R., Craufurd, D., Smith, A., Davies, R., Glenny, K., Homberger, M., Rose, L., Theed, R., Peeren, S., Rogers, D., Skitt, Z., Zarotti, N., & Simpson, J. (2021). Experiences of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Premanifest Huntington’s Disease. Journal of Huntington’s Disease, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3233/JHD-210471 

    Halliday, V., Zarotti, N., Coates, E., McGeachan, A., Williams, I., White, S., Beever, D., Norman, P., Gonzalez, S., Hackney, G., Ezaydi, N., Stavroulakis, T., Bradburn, M., & McDermott, C. (2021). Delivery of nutritional management services to people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 22(5–6), 350–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/21678421.2021.1874991 

    Zarotti, N., Eccles, J. F., Foley, J. A., Paget, A., Gunn, S., Leroi, I., & Simpson, J. (2020). Psychological interventions for people with Parkinson’s disease in the early 2020s: Where do we stand? Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12321 

    Zarotti, N., Dale, M., Eccles, F., & Simpson, J. (2020). Psychological Interventions for People with Huntington’s Disease: A Call to Arms. Journal of Huntington’s Disease, 9(3), 231–243. https://doi.org/10.3233/JHD-200418

    Zarotti, N., Povah, C., & Simpson, J. (2020). Mindfulness mediates the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and resilience in higher education students. Personality and Individual Differences, 156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109795 

    Essat, M., Archer, R., Williams, I., Zarotti, N., Coates, E., Clowes, M., Beever, D., Hackney, G., White, S., Stavroulakis, T., White, D., Norman, P., & McDermott, C. (2020). Interventions to promote oral nutritional behaviours in people living with neurodegenerative disorders of the motor system: A systematic review. Clinical Nutrition, 39(8), 2547–2556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2019.11.015 

    Zarotti, N., Coates, E., McGeachan, A., Williams, I., Beever, D., Hackney, G., … Young, T. (2019). Health care professionals’ views on psychological factors affecting nutritional behaviour in people with motor neuron disease: A thematic analysis. British Journal of Health Psychology, 24(4), 953–969. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12388

    Simpson, J., Dale, M., Theed, R., Gunn, S., Zarotti, N., & Eccles, F. (2019). Validity of irritability in Huntington’s disease: A scoping review. Cortex, 120, 353–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.06.012

    Zarotti, N., Fletcher, I., & Simpson, J. (2019). New perspectives on emotional processing in people with symptomatic Huntington’s disease: impaired emotion regulation and recognition of emotional body language. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 34, 610–624. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acy085 

    Zarotti, N., Simpson, J., & Fletcher, I. (2019). “I have a feeling I can’t speak to anybody”: a thematic analysis of communication perspectives in people with Huntington’s disease. Chronic Illness, 15(1), 61–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742395317733793.

    Zarotti, N., Simpson, J., Fletcher, I., Squitieri, F., & Migliore, S. (2018). Exploring emotion regulation and emotion recognition in people with presymptomatic Huntington’s disease: the role of emotional awareness. Neuropsychologia, 112, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.02.030

    Zarotti, N. (2016). Communication in Huntington’s disease: What do we know? FPOP Bulletin, 136, 35–39. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsfpop.2016.1.136.35

     

    Policy & Guidance

    Simpson, J., Eccles, F. J. R., & Zarotti, N. (2021). Extended evidence-based guidance on psychological interventions for psychological difficulties in individuals with Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, and multiple sclerosis. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4593882 

    British Psychological Society (2021). Psychological interventions for people with Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, and multiple sclerosis: Evidence-based guidance. Leicester: Author. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsrep.2021.rep143
    (Lead authors: Simpson, J., Eccles, F., & Zarotti, N.) 

     

    Professional Magazines

    Zarotti, N. (2022). Changing the questions we ask on trauma. The Psychologist, November. https://bps.org.uk/psychologist/changing-questions-we-ask-trauma

    Zarotti, N. (2021). Psychology’s role in the Parkinson’s pandemic. The Psychologist, July. https://bps.org.uk/psychologist/psychologys-role-parkinsons-pandemic

    Zarotti, N. (2021). From motion to emotion: The evolving brain. The Psychologist, June https://bps.org.uk/psychologist/motion-emotion-evolving-brain

    Zarotti, N. (2021). Cracking the Psychenglish Enigma. The Psychologist, February. https://bps.org.uk/psychologist/what-are-barriers-our-profession-and-how-can-we-remove-them 

     

    Memberships

    Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)
    Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS)
    Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
    Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)