This site uses cookies: Find out more

Okay, thanks
User content image
Play
Royal College of Psychiatrists - Celebrating 180 years
SKIP NAVIGATION
  • SKIP NAVIGATION
  • About the College
  • News and features
  • International
Logout MY CONTENT 
Login
DONATE
Search
  • Become a psychiatrist

    Become a psychiatrist

    • Choose Psychiatry

      Choose Psychiatry

      • What is psychiatry?
      • How to become a psychiatrist
      • Why choose psychiatry?
      • Career essentials
      • What next?
    • Sixth formers and school students
    • Medical students

      Medical students

      • Becoming a student associate
      • Psychiatry attachments
      • Awards, prizes and bursaries
      • PsychSocs
      • National conference
      • Summer and autumn schools
      • FuturePsych – the student associate magazine
    • Foundation doctors

      Foundation doctors

      • Foundation doctor associates
      • Making the most of your psychiatry placement
      • Opportunities for foundation doctors
      • FuturePsych - the associate magazine
    • Help us promote psychiatry

      Help us promote psychiatry

      • How can I help?
      • Ideas to inspire you
      • Resources to help you promote psychiatry
      • Our strategy
    • Choose Psychiatry: Guidance for Medical Schools
    • Choose Psychiatry
      • What is psychiatry?
      • How to become a psychiatrist
      • Why choose psychiatry?
      • Career essentials
      • What next?
    • Sixth formers and school students
    • Medical students
      • Becoming a student associate
      • Psychiatry attachments
      • Awards, prizes and bursaries
      • PsychSocs
      • National conference
      • Summer and autumn schools
      • FuturePsych – the student associate magazine
    • Foundation doctors
      • Foundation doctor associates
      • Making the most of your psychiatry placement
      • Opportunities for foundation doctors
      • FuturePsych - the associate magazine
    • Help us promote psychiatry
      • How can I help?
      • Ideas to inspire you
      • Resources to help you promote psychiatry
      • Our strategy
    • Choose Psychiatry: Guidance for Medical Schools
  • Training

    Training

    • Curricula and guidance

      Curricula and guidance

      • GMC approved curricula
      • Curricula review project
      • Specialty guides
    • Your training

      Your training

      • Psychiatric Trainees Committee: supporting you
      • Time out of training
      • Training resources
      • Run-through training
      • Prizes and bursaries for trainees
      • Leadership and management training
      • Training less than full time
      • Routes to Registration
    • Exams

      Exams

      • Can I take an exam?
      • Contact the exams team
      • Preparing for exams
      • Applying for your exam
      • Exam results
      • Special notices
      • Exam FAQs
      • A fair exam
      • MRCPsych examinations and COVID-19
      • Webinar: MRCPsych Exam - Changes to exam delivery this autumn
      • Capacity reached for September 2020 CASC
    • Neuroscience in training

      Neuroscience in training

      • About the project
      • Neuroscience events
      • Who is on the commission?
      • Latest news from the neuroscience project
      • Neuroscience history
      • Neuroscience videos
      • Neuroscience resources
    • Information for Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs)
    • Medical training initiative (MTI)
    • Undergraduate education forum
    • International Medical Graduates

      International Medical Graduates

      • Shortage Occupation List
    • Quality Assurance in Training
    • Curricula and guidance
      • GMC approved curricula
      • Curricula review project
      • Specialty guides
    • Your training
      • Psychiatric Trainees Committee: supporting you
      • Time out of training
      • Training resources
      • Run-through training
      • Prizes and bursaries for trainees
      • Leadership and management training
      • Training less than full time
      • Routes to Registration
    • Exams
      • Can I take an exam?
      • Contact the exams team
      • Preparing for exams
      • Applying for your exam
      • Exam results
      • Special notices
      • Exam FAQs
      • A fair exam
      • MRCPsych examinations and COVID-19
      • Webinar: MRCPsych Exam - Changes to exam delivery this autumn
      • Capacity reached for September 2020 CASC
    • Neuroscience in training
      • About the project
      • Neuroscience events
      • Who is on the commission?
      • Latest news from the neuroscience project
      • Neuroscience history
      • Neuroscience videos
      • Neuroscience resources
    • Information for Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs)
    • Medical training initiative (MTI)
    • Undergraduate education forum
    • International Medical Graduates
      • Shortage Occupation List
    • Quality Assurance in Training
  • Members

    Members

    • Supporting you

      Supporting you

      • Psychiatrists Support Service
      • New consultants (StartWell)
      • Mentoring and coaching
      • Revalidation
      • Assessing and managing risk of patients causing harm
      • Leadership and management
      • Working less than full time
      • If a patient dies by suicide
    • Submitting your CPD

      Submitting your CPD

      • CPD Submissions FAQs
      • Alterations to CPD during coronavirus pandemic
    • CPD Online
    • Membership

      Membership

      • Members login
      • Receipts
      • Pay Your Subscription
      • Direct Debit
      • Your subscription
      • Grades of membership
      • Benefits of membership
      • Fellowship and other Honours
      • Applying for Fellowship
      • Nominations for Honorary Fellows
      • Nominations for National Honours
    • Your Faculties

      Your Faculties

      • Academic psychiatry
      • Addictions psychiatry
      • Child and adolescent psychiatry
      • Eating disorders psychiatry
      • Forensic Psychiatry Faculty
      • General adult psychiatry
      • Intellectual disability psychiatry faculty
      • Liaison psychiatry faculty
      • Medical psychotherapy faculty
      • Neuropsychiatry faculty
      • Old age psychiatry faculty
      • Perinatal psychiatry faculty
      • Rehabilitation and social psychiatry faculty
      • Faculty job descriptions
    • Devolved Nations

      Devolved Nations

      • RCPsych in Scotland
      • RCPsych in Wales
      • Coleg Cymraeg
      • RCPsych in Northern Ireland
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
    • English Divisions

      English Divisions

      • Eastern
      • London
      • Northern and Yorkshire
      • North West
      • South Eastern
      • Trent
      • West Midlands
      • South West
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
      • NW and NY mentorship
    • International members

      International members

      • International strategy
    • Special Interest Groups

      Special Interest Groups

      • How to join a SIG
      • Adolescent forensic psychiatry
      • Arts psychiatry
      • Evolutionary psychiatry
      • History of psychiatry
      • Neurodevelopmental psychiatry
      • Occupational psychiatry
      • Philosophy
      • Private and independent practice PIPSIG
      • Rainbow SIG
      • Spirituality
      • Sport and exercise
      • Transcultural psychiatry
      • Volunteering and international
      • Women and mental health
      • Special Interest Group Job Descriptions
      • Digital psychiatry
    • Committees of Council
    • RCPsych Insight magazine
    • Publications and books
    • Your monthly eNewsletter

      Your monthly eNewsletter

      • RCPsych eNewsletter January 2021
      • Members' update 14 January 2021
      • RCPsych eNewsletter December 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter November 2020
      • Members' update 12 November 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter October 2020
      • Members' update 8 October 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter September 2020
      • Members' update 11 September 2020
      • Members' update 1 September 2020
      • Members' update 14 August 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter July 2020
      • Members' update 10 July 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter June 2020
      • Update 12 June 2020
      • COVID-19 Update 29 May 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter May 2020
      • COVID-19 Update 7 May 2020
      • COVID-19 Update 1 May 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter April 2020
      • COVID-19 Update April 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter February 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter January 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter December 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter November 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter October 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter September 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter July 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter June 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter May 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter April 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter March 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter February 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter January 2019
    • Posts for members
    • Public members list
    • Jobs board
    • Specialist and Associate Specialty Doctors

      Specialist and Associate Specialty Doctors

      • A message from the Chair
      • Who are SAS Doctors?
      • How to enter the SAS grade
      • SAS career development
      • SAS doctors resources
      • College SAS training and events
    • President's lectures

      President's lectures

      • Declaration of competing interests (President's lectures)
      • List of president's lectures competing interests
      • Past President's lectures
    • Retired members
    • New Members Ceremonies
    • Obituaries

      Obituaries

      • Submit an obituary
    • Supporting you
      • Psychiatrists Support Service
      • New consultants (StartWell)
      • Mentoring and coaching
      • Revalidation
      • Assessing and managing risk of patients causing harm
      • Leadership and management
      • Working less than full time
      • If a patient dies by suicide
    • Submitting your CPD
      • CPD Submissions FAQs
      • Alterations to CPD during coronavirus pandemic
    • CPD Online
    • Membership
      • Members login
      • Receipts
      • Pay Your Subscription
      • Direct Debit
      • Your subscription
      • Grades of membership
      • Benefits of membership
      • Fellowship and other Honours
      • Applying for Fellowship
      • Nominations for Honorary Fellows
      • Nominations for National Honours
    • Your Faculties
      • Academic psychiatry
      • Addictions psychiatry
      • Child and adolescent psychiatry
      • Eating disorders psychiatry
      • Forensic Psychiatry Faculty
      • General adult psychiatry
      • Intellectual disability psychiatry faculty
      • Liaison psychiatry faculty
      • Medical psychotherapy faculty
      • Neuropsychiatry faculty
      • Old age psychiatry faculty
      • Perinatal psychiatry faculty
      • Rehabilitation and social psychiatry faculty
      • Faculty job descriptions
    • Devolved Nations
      • RCPsych in Scotland
      • RCPsych in Wales
      • Coleg Cymraeg
      • RCPsych in Northern Ireland
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
    • English Divisions
      • Eastern
      • London
      • Northern and Yorkshire
      • North West
      • South Eastern
      • Trent
      • West Midlands
      • South West
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
      • NW and NY mentorship
    • International members
      • International strategy
    • Special Interest Groups
      • How to join a SIG
      • Adolescent forensic psychiatry
      • Arts psychiatry
      • Evolutionary psychiatry
      • History of psychiatry
      • Neurodevelopmental psychiatry
      • Occupational psychiatry
      • Philosophy
      • Private and independent practice PIPSIG
      • Rainbow SIG
      • Spirituality
      • Sport and exercise
      • Transcultural psychiatry
      • Volunteering and international
      • Women and mental health
      • Special Interest Group Job Descriptions
      • Digital psychiatry
    • Committees of Council
    • RCPsych Insight magazine
    • Publications and books
    • Your monthly eNewsletter
      • RCPsych eNewsletter January 2021
      • Members' update 14 January 2021
      • RCPsych eNewsletter December 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter November 2020
      • Members' update 12 November 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter October 2020
      • Members' update 8 October 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter September 2020
      • Members' update 11 September 2020
      • Members' update 1 September 2020
      • Members' update 14 August 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter July 2020
      • Members' update 10 July 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter June 2020
      • Update 12 June 2020
      • COVID-19 Update 29 May 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter May 2020
      • COVID-19 Update 7 May 2020
      • COVID-19 Update 1 May 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter April 2020
      • COVID-19 Update April 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter February 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter January 2020
      • RCPsych eNewsletter December 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter November 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter October 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter September 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter July 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter June 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter May 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter April 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter March 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter February 2019
      • RCPsych eNewsletter January 2019
    • Posts for members
    • Public members list
    • Jobs board
    • Specialist and Associate Specialty Doctors
      • A message from the Chair
      • Who are SAS Doctors?
      • How to enter the SAS grade
      • SAS career development
      • SAS doctors resources
      • College SAS training and events
    • President's lectures
      • Declaration of competing interests (President's lectures)
      • List of president's lectures competing interests
      • Past President's lectures
    • Retired members
    • New Members Ceremonies
    • Obituaries
      • Submit an obituary
  • Events

    Events

    • Conferences and training events

      Conferences and training events

      • Faculty of intellectual Disability Spring Conference 2019
      • Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry Annual Conference 2020 - Register your interest
      • Section 12 and AC – Update for Trainers - Training Day Course Resources
      • Resilience & Wellbeing Course for SAS Doctors
      • Present State Examination Course 17 April - Register your interest
      • Present State Examination Course 1 September - Register your interest
      • Section 12 and Approved Clinician Training
      • Perinatal Psychiatry Masterclasses
      • Women and Mental Health Special Interest Group Annual Conference
      • Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy Annual Conference 2021 - Register your interest
      • Register your interest - Clinical and Educational Supervisor Training future dates
    • Events held by other organisations
    • Terms and conditions
    • In house training

      In house training

      • In house training: working with us
      • Health of Nation Outcome Scales
      • Competing interests
    • Highlights from International Congress 2020 - Webinar Series

      Highlights from International Congress 2020 - Webinar Series

      • Registration
      • Programme
      • FAQs
    • Accommodation List
    • Recruitment events
    • Claiming Expenses
    • International Congress 2021

      International Congress 2021

      • Congress FAQs
      • Registration
      • Key dates
      • IC21 Keynote speakers
      • Poster Presentations 2021
      • Programme
    • Free webinars

      Free webinars

      • Free webinars for members
    • Speaker guidance for online events
    • Conferences and training events
      • Faculty of intellectual Disability Spring Conference 2019
      • Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry Annual Conference 2020 - Register your interest
      • Section 12 and AC – Update for Trainers - Training Day Course Resources
      • Resilience & Wellbeing Course for SAS Doctors
      • Present State Examination Course 17 April - Register your interest
      • Present State Examination Course 1 September - Register your interest
      • Section 12 and Approved Clinician Training
      • Perinatal Psychiatry Masterclasses
      • Women and Mental Health Special Interest Group Annual Conference
      • Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy Annual Conference 2021 - Register your interest
      • Register your interest - Clinical and Educational Supervisor Training future dates
    • Events held by other organisations
    • Terms and conditions
    • In house training
      • In house training: working with us
      • Health of Nation Outcome Scales
      • Competing interests
    • Highlights from International Congress 2020 - Webinar Series
      • Registration
      • Programme
      • FAQs
    • Accommodation List
    • Recruitment events
    • Claiming Expenses
    • International Congress 2021
      • Congress FAQs
      • Registration
      • Key dates
      • IC21 Keynote speakers
      • Poster Presentations 2021
      • Programme
    • Free webinars
      • Free webinars for members
    • Speaker guidance for online events
  • Improving care

    Improving care

    • College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI)

      College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI)

      • What we do in the CCQI
      • Quality Networks and Accreditation
      • National Clinical Audits
      • Multi-source feedback
      • Using quality improvement
      • CCQI resources
      • CCQI Who we are
      • Research and evaluation
    • Campaigning for better mental health policy

      Campaigning for better mental health policy

      • The Mental Health Act (MHA)
      • Five Year Forward View
      • Integrated care and mental health
      • Children and young people's mental health Green Paper
      • RCPsych in Parliament
      • Join our Research Panel
      • College Reports
      • Position statements
      • Process for College publications
      • Other policy areas
      • Mental Health Watch
      • COVID-19: Guidance for clinicians
      • The Mental Health Act White Paper 2021
    • Planning the psychiatric workforce

      Planning the psychiatric workforce

      • What we do
      • Job planning and recruitment
      • Our workforce census
      • Campaigning for the mental health workforce of the future
      • Workforce strategy
    • Physician Associates

      Physician Associates

      • About Physician Associates
      • Employing Physician Associates
      • Becoming a Physician Associate
      • Support for Physician Associates
      • Physician Associates network
    • National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health

      National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health

      • About the NCCMH
      • Mental health care pathways
      • Mental health quality improvement programmes
      • Other programmes
      • Reducing restrictive practice
      • National suicide prevention programme
      • Sexual Safety Collaborative
      • COVID-19 Mental Health Improvement Network
      • RCPsych Enjoying Work Collaborative
    • Invited Review Service
    • Public Health and its role in mental heath
    • Sustainability and working sustainably

      Sustainability and working sustainably

      • In your community
      • In your practice
      • In your trust
      • Green care
      • Sustainability scholars
      • About sustainability in mental health care
      • Sustainability resources
      • Working sustainably (old)
    • RCPsych Course Accreditation
    • College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI)
      • What we do in the CCQI
      • Quality Networks and Accreditation
      • National Clinical Audits
      • Multi-source feedback
      • Using quality improvement
      • CCQI resources
      • CCQI Who we are
      • Research and evaluation
    • Campaigning for better mental health policy
      • The Mental Health Act (MHA)
      • Five Year Forward View
      • Integrated care and mental health
      • Children and young people's mental health Green Paper
      • RCPsych in Parliament
      • Join our Research Panel
      • College Reports
      • Position statements
      • Process for College publications
      • Other policy areas
      • Mental Health Watch
      • COVID-19: Guidance for clinicians
      • The Mental Health Act White Paper 2021
    • Planning the psychiatric workforce
      • What we do
      • Job planning and recruitment
      • Our workforce census
      • Campaigning for the mental health workforce of the future
      • Workforce strategy
    • Physician Associates
      • About Physician Associates
      • Employing Physician Associates
      • Becoming a Physician Associate
      • Support for Physician Associates
      • Physician Associates network
    • National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
      • About the NCCMH
      • Mental health care pathways
      • Mental health quality improvement programmes
      • Other programmes
      • Reducing restrictive practice
      • National suicide prevention programme
      • Sexual Safety Collaborative
      • COVID-19 Mental Health Improvement Network
      • RCPsych Enjoying Work Collaborative
    • Invited Review Service
    • Public Health and its role in mental heath
    • Sustainability and working sustainably
      • In your community
      • In your practice
      • In your trust
      • Green care
      • Sustainability scholars
      • About sustainability in mental health care
      • Sustainability resources
      • Working sustainably (old)
    • RCPsych Course Accreditation
  • Mental health

    Mental health

    • Problems and disorders

      Problems and disorders

      • ADHD in adults
      • Alcohol and depression
      • Alcohol and older people
      • Anorexia and bulimia
      • Anxiety, panic and phobias
      • Bereavement
      • Bipolar disorder
      • Cannabis
      • Club drugs
      • Coping after a traumatic event
      • Debt and mental health
      • Delirium
      • Memory problems and dementia
      • Depression
      • Depression in older adults
      • Depression and men
      • Eating well and mental health
      • Feeling on the edge
      • Feeling overwhelmed
      • Feeling stressed
      • Hoarding
      • Learning disabilities
      • Medically unexplained symptoms
      • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
      • Perinatal OCD
      • Personality disorder
      • Postnatal depression
      • Physical illness
      • Postpartum psychosis
      • Problem gambling
      • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
      • Schizoaffective disorder
      • Schizophrenia
      • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
      • Self harm
      • Shyness and social phobia
      • Sleeping well
      • Perinatal OCD for carers
      • Postpartum Psychosis in Carers
      • Postnatal depression key facts
      • Postnatal depression: information for carers
    • Support, care and treatment

      Support, care and treatment

      • Alzheimers drug treatments
      • Antidepressants
      • Antipsychotics
      • Being sectioned
      • Benzodiazepines
      • Bipolar medications
      • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: herbal remedies
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: physical treatments
      • Depot medication
      • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
      • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
      • Electronic health records in mental health services in England
      • Guide to mental health tribunals
      • Liaison psychiatry services
      • Mental capacity and the law
      • Mental health rehabilitation services
      • Mental health services and teams in the community
      • Planning a pregnancy
      • Psychotherapies and psychological treatments
      • Spirituality and mental health
      • Stopping antidepressants
      • Talking to your GP
      • What to expect of your psychiatrist in the UK
      • Antipsychotics in Pregnancy
      • Lithium in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
      • Mother and Baby Units (MBUs)
      • Children's Social Services and Safeguarding
      • Valproate in women and girls who could get pregnant
      • What are Perinatal Mental Health Services?
      • Mental health in pregnancy
      • Medication for mental health and COVID-19
      • Remote consultations and COVID-19
      • Attending hospital and COVID-19
      • Monitoring health at home and COVID-19
      • Alcohol and COVID-19
      • Eating disorders and COVID-19
      • Perinatal care and COVID-19
      • COVID-19: Self-harm in young people 
      • COVID-19: Self-harm and suicide 
      • COVID-19: Looking after your mental health – for young people and their parents and carers 
      • COVID-19: Using drugs
      • COVID-19: ASD
    • Young people's mental health
    • Translations

      Translations

      • Arabic عربى
      • Bengali বাঙালি
      • Bulgarian български
      • Chinese 中文
      • French Français
      • German Auf Deutsch
      • Greek Ελληνική γλώσσα
      • Gujurati ગુજરાતી
      • Hindi हिंदीहिंदी
      • Italian italiano
      • Japanese 日本語
      • Lithuanian Lietuvių kalba
      • Pashto پښتو
      • Persian (Farsi) فارسی
      • Polish Polski
      • Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
      • Romanian Română
      • Russian Pусский
      • Somali
      • Spanish Español
      • Turkish
      • Tamil தமிழ்
      • Urdu اردو
      • Welsh Cymraeg
    • Mental health FAQs
    • Order mental health leaflets
    • About our mental health information
    • Disclaimer about our mental health information
    • Choosing Wisely - a national campaign
    • BSL translations
    • MindEd: web tools for those working with young people
    • Order mental health packs for schools
    • Audio resources
    • Problems and disorders
      • ADHD in adults
      • Alcohol and depression
      • Alcohol and older people
      • Anorexia and bulimia
      • Anxiety, panic and phobias
      • Bereavement
      • Bipolar disorder
      • Cannabis
      • Club drugs
      • Coping after a traumatic event
      • Debt and mental health
      • Delirium
      • Memory problems and dementia
      • Depression
      • Depression in older adults
      • Depression and men
      • Eating well and mental health
      • Feeling on the edge
      • Feeling overwhelmed
      • Feeling stressed
      • Hoarding
      • Learning disabilities
      • Medically unexplained symptoms
      • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
      • Perinatal OCD
      • Personality disorder
      • Postnatal depression
      • Physical illness
      • Postpartum psychosis
      • Problem gambling
      • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
      • Schizoaffective disorder
      • Schizophrenia
      • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
      • Self harm
      • Shyness and social phobia
      • Sleeping well
      • Perinatal OCD for carers
      • Postpartum Psychosis in Carers
      • Postnatal depression key facts
      • Postnatal depression: information for carers
    • Support, care and treatment
      • Alzheimers drug treatments
      • Antidepressants
      • Antipsychotics
      • Being sectioned
      • Benzodiazepines
      • Bipolar medications
      • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: herbal remedies
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: physical treatments
      • Depot medication
      • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
      • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
      • Electronic health records in mental health services in England
      • Guide to mental health tribunals
      • Liaison psychiatry services
      • Mental capacity and the law
      • Mental health rehabilitation services
      • Mental health services and teams in the community
      • Planning a pregnancy
      • Psychotherapies and psychological treatments
      • Spirituality and mental health
      • Stopping antidepressants
      • Talking to your GP
      • What to expect of your psychiatrist in the UK
      • Antipsychotics in Pregnancy
      • Lithium in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
      • Mother and Baby Units (MBUs)
      • Children's Social Services and Safeguarding
      • Valproate in women and girls who could get pregnant
      • What are Perinatal Mental Health Services?
      • Mental health in pregnancy
      • Medication for mental health and COVID-19
      • Remote consultations and COVID-19
      • Attending hospital and COVID-19
      • Monitoring health at home and COVID-19
      • Alcohol and COVID-19
      • Eating disorders and COVID-19
      • Perinatal care and COVID-19
      • COVID-19: Self-harm in young people 
      • COVID-19: Self-harm and suicide 
      • COVID-19: Looking after your mental health – for young people and their parents and carers 
      • COVID-19: Using drugs
      • COVID-19: ASD
    • Young people's mental health
    • Translations
      • Arabic عربى
      • Bengali বাঙালি
      • Bulgarian български
      • Chinese 中文
      • French Français
      • German Auf Deutsch
      • Greek Ελληνική γλώσσα
      • Gujurati ગુજરાતી
      • Hindi हिंदीहिंदी
      • Italian italiano
      • Japanese 日本語
      • Lithuanian Lietuvių kalba
      • Pashto پښتو
      • Persian (Farsi) فارسی
      • Polish Polski
      • Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
      • Romanian Română
      • Russian Pусский
      • Somali
      • Spanish Español
      • Turkish
      • Tamil தமிழ்
      • Urdu اردو
      • Welsh Cymraeg
    • Mental health FAQs
    • Order mental health leaflets
    • About our mental health information
    • Disclaimer about our mental health information
    • Choosing Wisely - a national campaign
    • BSL translations
    • MindEd: web tools for those working with young people
    • Order mental health packs for schools
    • Audio resources
Menu   
  • Home
  • News and features
  • Blogs
Back to Blog

Working on the inside: Life as a forensic psychiatrist

Choose psychiatry

21 October, 2019

  • Print this page
  • Share this page
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • linkedin
  • Email this page

Dr Jo Brown explains the unexpected joy and humanity she has uncovered in her role as a forensic psychiatrist. 

“But you don’t work with people who kill people, do you?” said my mum during a discussion about the Louis Theroux documentary By Reason of Insanity (2015). 

I had just got my consultant job as a forensic psychiatrist.  I had done three years of higher training in different settings – high secure, medium secure, low secure, prison, community patients, forensic learning disability and the serious offenders liaison service.  I had been sure that she understood what it was I did. 

What forensic really means

Forensic psychiatrist.  Even now, when I tell people what my job is some people ask if I work with dead people.  Forensic refers to ‘crime’.  My job is working as a psychiatrist with people who have committed offences and who have a diagnosis of a mental illness or disorder. 

Sometimes the offences are directly related to their illness/disorder, sometimes they have committed offences and happen to become unwell – the same way any one of us might – and sometimes people become so distressed and unwell that they require a setting with more staff and more secure surroundings without there being an offence involved.  My job is varied with inpatients (in a medium secure unit), outpatients, prison clinics and a clinic for military veterans (not strictly forensic!).

A fantastic professional community  

So why do I love my job?  In all honesty, it’s the people I work with – both patients and staff in the different settings I work.

The different staff teams I work with are dedicated, hardworking and cheerful.  I have been fortunate to find myself in teams that are supportive and challenging.  They push me and ask me to do more for the patients that we support and care for.  I believe this makes me a better doctor.  They make me think about things differently, to reconsider ideas, take into account the different elements of a patient’s story and be more reflective of my own practice.  Being in teams like these can only improve the care that we provide for patients.

A privileged position

The patients themselves continue to surprise me.  Because of the settings I work in, I generally have a lot of time to get to know them – their skills, talents, their stories, their experience of illness, the offences they have committed and their families, who can often be the victims of their offences.

This is a privilege. I don’t want that to sound disingenuous or patronising.  As a human, to learn about the good and bad of a person, to be used as a confessor, to be the first person that hears about a terrible trauma, to sit with a person as they talk through these things – it is a privilege.  This is something I don’t take lightly and that can make my job hard.  We hear many terrible things and yet we help people find hope. 

Supporting the justice system

Linking to the court system is an important part of this.  I have to ensure that courts hear about the impact that an illness or disorder has on a person’s actions – or not!  I want to make sure that I provide accurate information to the court in order that decisions made in the court room are well-informed.  Holding patients as both perpetrators and victims themselves is an important part of my job.  Making sure that they are advocated for whilst recognising the significant impact that the offence they have perpetrated has had on victims and families makes planning care challenging at times, but also rewarding when a balance can be found. 

Part of my role is thinking about whether people might still present a risk of harm to others and/or themselves and planning ways in which everyone remains safe.  This is a huge responsibility and one that all psychiatrists, criminal justice agencies and the police can be criticised for – whether something happens or not.  Working with my patients to manage this is challenging but rewarding when things go well, and I see people move on.

A joyful job

The part that I hadn’t expected in my job – and perhaps the part that no one expects – is the joy.  I have laughed with patients and their families – a lot!  The humanity of my job is not just about the serious moments, it is also about these moments.  It is sitting in the hospital gardens when two of patients receive awards for the work that they have done there. It is seeing a patient produce artwork, meeting a patient on a bus, trading bad jokes with patients and watching films at Christmas and sharing a box of biscuits.

So, yes – sometimes I work with people who hurt other people.  But that’s not what is important.  I don’t love my job for the scandal, the news headlines or the ‘danger’.  I love my job for the people who share their stories with me – those I have the opportunity to help and see moving on to their families and friends.  I love my job for the teams I work with – our Christmas Nights Out, the challenges, the team working!  I love my job because it challenges and rewards, and it makes me think and reflect. 

It makes we want to get up in the morning – well mostly…I am human after all!

Blog Author
Choose Psychiatry team
Choose Psychiatry team

  • Mental health
  • Members
  • Improving care
  • About the College
  • Contact the College
  • News and features
  • Vacancies at the College
  • Jobs Board for Members
  • Data protection
  • Disclaimer
  • Permissions
  • Web accessibility
SEE MAP

London Office
21 Prescot Street London E1 8BB
0208 618 4000

Royal College of Psychiatrists

© 2021 Royal College of Psychiatrists

Registered charity no. 228636 (England and Wales)

Charity registration no. SC038369 (Scotland)

  • Become a psychiatrist
  • Training
  • Events
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram