Tania Gergel
ResearcherUnited Kingdom
Tania Gergel is Director of Research at Bipolar UK and holds professorships at University College London and Cardiff University. Her research focuses on bipolar disorder and other severe mental illness, particularly advance decision-making, suicide, diagnosis, mental health law and ethics, and lived-experience involvement in research. [2]
Career and work
Gergel became Bipolar UK's first Director of Research in 2023 and holds professorships at University College London and Cardiff University. Her work focuses on putting lived experience at the centre of mental health research and policy, with ongoing research on Advance Choice Documents, suicide and delayed diagnosis in bipolar disorder. [2]
Her research on Advance Choice Documents has included work with King's College London and the Department of Health and Social Care on how people with recurring severe mental illness can record decisions, wishes and preferences for future periods when they may become severely unwell. [4][2]
What has been publicly discussed
- Gergel has publicly identified herself as living with bipolar disorder and has incorporated her lived experience into both her research and public advocacy. [1]
- Gergel has described severe mixed manic and psychotic episodes during which she can rapidly become intensely suicidal. She has also said that she can conceal her symptoms well, which has sometimes made it difficult for others to recognize how unwell she is. [3]
- She has experienced compulsory psychiatric detention and has described being physically restrained during previous admissions as traumatic. [3]
- Gergel has said that conventional medications have not worked for her and that she needs electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). She uses an Advance Choice Document, a written record made while a person has capacity that sets out decisions, wishes or preferences for treatment and care during a future period when they may become severely unwell. [4][3]
- Her document records this treatment need and helped doctors obtain approval for ECT during pregnancy. It also contains a self-binding agreement stating that when specific symptoms are present she should be treated and supervised immediately for her safety. [3]
- Gergel has said that her episodes have become much calmer since she began using an Advance Choice Document. She has described the document as helping her remain safe even during periods of severe suicidality, while making subsequent episodes substantially less traumatic than previous experiences of compulsory detention. [3]
- Gergel has advocated for people with severe and recurring mental illness to have greater control over future treatment through Advance Choice Documents and self-binding directives. Her research contributed to the development of Advance Choice Document provisions that were subsequently included in the Mental Health Act 2025. [2][5]
- She has also argued for lived experience to have a central role in mental health research and policy, including research on suicide and delayed diagnosis in bipolar disorder. [2]
“It has really worked, and has meant I’ve stayed safe although I’ve been deeply suicidal.”
— Tania Gergel [3]
Sources and other resourcesExpand to view the sources used in this profile and resources to learn more.
Sources used for this profile
The following sources contain information that supports the claims made on this page.
National Centre for Mental HealthBipolar Disorder Research Includes Gergel's first-person statement that she lives with and leads research into bipolar disorder.
Bipolar UKMeet the research team Covers Gergel's role as Director of Research, professorships, research priorities and work on Advance Choice Documents.
The GuardianMental health advance choice documents ‘would reduce sectioning’ Interview covering Gergel's mixed manic and psychotic episodes, suicidality, compulsory treatment, ECT and use of a self-binding Advance Choice Document.
View all 5 sources
Bipolar UKAdvance Choice Documents Explains Advance Choice Documents and their use in planning future mental health treatment.
Explanatory NotesMental Health Act 2025 Official legislation material confirming that the Act takes forward reforms on Advance Choice Documents.
Learn more
Recommended books and other resources about Tania Gergel and their experiences.
- Should people with mental illness be able to commit themselves to future involuntary treatment?UCL Discovery
Gergel and colleagues debate the case for and against self-binding directives in mental healthcare.
- Fluctuating capacity and advance decision-making in Bipolar Affective DisorderPMC
Gergel and Gareth Owen's open-access academic paper proposing a framework for self-binding directives in bipolar disorder.
- Self-binding directivesUCL seminar
Overview of Gergel's work on advance decision-making and information about the BBC Radio 4 documentary Bound to the Mast.