Honorary President 2011-2012:
Dr David M Clark MA, MPhil, DPhil, DSc, FBA, FMedSci, FBPsS, FKC
David M Clark is the Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He has an international reputation for his pioneering work on the understanding and treatment of anxiety disorders. With colleagues, he has developed effective cognitive-behaviour therapy programmes for four different anxiety disorders: panic disorder, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder and health anxiety (hypochondriasis).
He has also played a key role in disseminating the new treatments. The first major project arose from the tragedy of the Omagh Car Bomb (15th August 1998). Shortly afterwards, Clark trained local clinicians in cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. An audit of the initial cases demonstrated remarkable improvement and persuaded the Northern Ireland Office to help establish the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation that offers the treatment to victims of terrorist violence from 1970s onwards. The model adopted in Omagh was subsequently used as a template for the psychotherapeutic response to the 2005 London Bombs, with similarly good results.
The second project is the English Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme which aims to train an extra 6,000 new psychological therapists by 2015 and to deploy them (with existing therapists) in specialist services that will see up to 900,000 individuals with anxiety and/or depression per annum. Clark’s involvement with the IAPT program dates from 2005 when he joined Lord Layard in a Cabinet Office presentation on the cost effectiveness of increasing the availability of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression. Following the creation of the IAPT initiative, he has served as a member of IAPT National Team and is Clinical Adviser to the Program.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. David M Clark as CPA's Honorary President for 2011-2012.
Dr. David J. A. Dozois
President/Président
Canadian Psychological Association
Société canadienne de psychologie