Richard Brown

Biography

I developed research interests in consciousness, volition and executive function during my first degree at UCL and extended these interests during an MRC funded PhD focusing on the cognitive mechanisms of hypnosis and suggestion. I applied my knowledge in these areas during a three-year post-doctoral research fellowship at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, investigating dissociation, trauma, suggestibility and illness cognition in patients with somatization disorder and non-epileptic attacks. I have continued to conduct research on somatization and dissociation since this time, with a particular emphasis on functional (i.e., 'medically unexplained') neurological symptoms.

Research Interest

My primary research interests are in functional ("medically unexplained") symptoms, particularly the somatoform and dissociative disorders. My main focus is the psychological mechanisms of somatization and dissociation, as well as the development and assessment of treatment techniques in this area. Much of my work has been on developing and evaluating the Integrative Cognitive Model (ICM) of medically unexplained symptoms, which seeks to integrate cognitive, psychodynamic and dissociation theories within a single explanatory framework grounded in basic cognitive theory. Our group is currently developing both cognitive and psychodynamic interpersonal therapy (PIT) interventions for functional symptoms based on this model. We have also been conducting research on basic perceptual processes, particularly those involved in tactile attention and somatic signal detection.