The main activities of the Department are developed within the scope of teaching / training and research in Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health. Its main mission is, therefore, the development of multidisciplinary knowledge in clinical neurosciences and mental health, accompanied by an innovative and effective transmission of knowledge. This development results from the permanent motivation of all teachers in the sense of improving clinical practice, teaching and research, aiming at scientific dissemination at national and international level. The differentiation of its teachers and researchers has been one of the great targets, being the great majority doctorate or finding to attend doctoral programs.

In addition to the promotion of excellence in teaching, the Department promotes the training of its professors in the field of research, motivating their participation in scientific projects and promoting the increase of scientific production in clinical and translational areas (elevation of scientific publication in journals Indexed of international circulation with factor of impact and journals of the first quartile of the scientific area).

It has also been improving and promoting the journal it organizes, namely The International Journal of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health (http://ijcnmh.arc-publishing.org/).

The Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health also focuses on other areas of education / information, with projects aimed at the public, whose main objective is to implement greater knowledge about mental illness, minimizing stigma. It has developed several psychoeducational initiatives in the school and work environment, as well as psychoeducational programs aimed at the families of people with major mental illness, degenerative / incapacitating neurological diseases and the importance of the use of techniques such as deep brain stimulation.

The Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health was constituted in October 2010, and covers several scientific-pedagogical areas: Neurosurgery, Neurology, Medical Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental Health. It is subdivided into functional areas, namely Education / Training, Research and Third Mission.

In relation to teaching / training, the following are the Curricular Units of the Integrated Masters in Medicine of FMUP (Neurological Diseases, Medical Psychology I, Medical Psychology II, Psychiatry and Mental Health and Psychiatry and Mental Health - Clinical Practice) and optional Curricular Units. At the level of the 2nd Cycle of Studies: the «Master in Clinical Communication» and the «Master in Psychiatry and Mental Health». The 3rd Cycle of Studies in «Clinical Neurosciences, Neuropsychiatry and Mental Health», a clinical branch of the Doctoral Program in Neurosciences of the UP, is also underway. Finally, it coordinates the following "Continuing Education Courses": "Specialization Course in Clinical Communication Skills", the "Clinical Specialization Course in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy". The teaching integrates the theoretical aspect in a clinical practice developed by professors specialized in specific areas of the psychiatric clinic, in medical psychology, neurology, neurosurgery and neuroscience. There are areas of greater focus: schizophrenia, mood disorders, eating disorders, psychopathology and chronic pain, clinical communication, psychodynamic psychotherapy, psychosomatic illness, dementia, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, microsurgery, and minimally invasive surgery (neurosurgery), deep neurostimulation surgery. The first cycle of studies is open to Erasmus students.

The Department collaborates in other courses of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cycles and in postgraduate courses, both FMUP and several other university institutions (University of Minho, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, Portuguese Catholic University, among others).

Research activities are based on a holistic approach to neuropsychiatric disorders, exploring the associated biological and psycho-social aspects. It also promotes the connection to the Experimental / Basic Neurosciences, aiming to increase the knowledge about the relation between the nervous system the emotions, the cognition and the behavior.

The Department establishes close collaboration with other Departments of FMUP and other Research Units (eg UIDC, CINTESIS, i3S, UNIFAI). In the same way, it maintains research projects in synergy with Scientific Societies (Portuguese Society of Communication in Health Care, Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Portuguese Society of Psychosomatics, Portuguese Society of Neurology, Portuguese Society of Neurosurgery, Multiple Sclerosis Studies Group, Cerebral Aging and Dementia Study Group, Portuguese Gerontopsychiatry Association, Portuguese Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Portuguese Society of Neurosciences, Portuguese Society of Movement Diseases, Portuguese Society of Stroke).