ARC ROLE

Theme Lead, Mental Health

PROFESSIONAL ROLE

Head, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London

Director, UCLPartners Integrated Mental Health Programme

Chief Executive, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families

National Clinical Advisor on Children’s Mental Health, NHS England

EXPERTISE AND INTERESTS

Peter’s expertise covers issues of early attachment relationships, social cognition, borderline personality disorder, antisocial behaviour and violence. His longitudinal studies, which link the quality of parent-infant attachment to theory of mind development, have important implications for strategies for early prevention not accounted for by genetic influences. The link between human attachment and social cognition led Peter and his colleagues to develop a highly effective treatment approach for borderline personality disorders. Mentalization Based Treatment is now one of the two evidence-based psychological treatments used for severe personality disorders and is widely practiced in the UK, Europe and the USA.