Gordon Parker (psychiatrist)

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Gordon Barraclough Parker AO is an Australian psychiatrist who is scientia professor of psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

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Parker’s particular focus is on the phenomenology and epidemiology of mood disorders, social psychiatry, and the treatment (both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy) and management of mood disorders. His research has assisted in modelling psychiatric conditions – depression, bipolar and personality disorders – and examining causes, mechanisms and treatments for mood disorders, together with innovative clinical work. Parker is a critic of the current unitary classification of major depressive disorder (as represented in the DSM-5), and has proposed the revival of the diagnosis of melancholia. In 2010 he was made an officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his distinguished service to psychiatry as a clinician and researcher, particularly as a major contributor to the understanding and innovative treatment of mood disorders and as founder and Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute. [1]

Early life and education

Parker was born in Melbourne, schooled at Shore in Sydney, completed an MB BS at the University of Sydney (USyd), and an MD (1978), PhD (1983) and DSc (1997) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He is married, with four children. His path to Medicine and his clinical rationale is outlined in his autobiography, "A Piece of My Mind". [2]

Career

Parker was Head of the School of Psychiatry at the University of NSW from 1983-2002, as well as Director of the Division of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals in Sydney from 1983 to 1996. In 2002, he became the founder and inaugural Director of the Black Dog Institute, an organisation that focuses on research into and treatment of mood disorders, in particular clinical depression and bipolar disorder. [3]

As a consequence of his advocacy for diagnosing melancholia, in 2010 Parker was invited to head a group of prominent international psychiatrists to argue for its separate status in the new DSM-5 classificatory system. [4]

Parker has been a member of the Editorial Boards of 16 journals, and was the invited Editor of the December 2015 issue of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. [5] He is an invited assessor for various National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Grants as well as for scientific journals, for example, The Lancet and The American Journal of Psychiatry. [6] He has been involved with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) – as Editor of the Journal (1979–88) and Chair of the Quality Assurance Committee (1990–95). [7]

Parker has also held a number of positions with legal organisations, including the NSW Guardianship Board (1990–95) and the NSW Administrative Appeals Tribunal (1991–92). He has sought to make the community more aware of depressive sub-types (especially melancholia) and the bipolar conditions (especially bipolar II disorder) via multiple TV, radio and print interviews and personalised programs (for instance, two ABC Australian Story [8] programs detailing nuances of bipolar II disorder).

During his time at the Black Dog Institute, Parker ‘translated’ research findings via educational programs – some with health professionals in mind and some shaped for the general community. [9] Parker has also developed or evaluated a number of assessment and self-assessment tools to help practitioners and individuals to gauge the type and clinical import of a mood disorder. [10]

Awards and recognition

In 2004, Parker received a Citation Laureate from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as the Australian Scientist most highly cited in the field of “Psychiatry/Psychology”. His citations exceed 35,000. [10]

In 2008, Parker received a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission award for his book: “Journeys with the Black Dog”, [11] and in 2010 his book “Tackling Depression at Work” was short-listed for a further Australian Human Rights Commission award. [12]

In 2017, Parker was awarded the James Cook Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales for "Outstanding contributions to both science and human welfare in and for the Southern Hemisphere". [13]

Lifetime awards include the RANZCP Senior Psychiatric Research Award (twice), Australasian Society of Psychiatric Research Founders Award, NSW Forensic Psychology Award, UNSW Alumni Award for Science and Technology, Suicide Prevention Lifetime Research Award, and Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010.[ citation needed ]

The University of NSW awards Scientia Professor status for those academics who have demonstrated "outstanding research performance." [14] Parker was the first clinical academic to be awarded such status in 2000, for a five-year period, and subsequently for three further periods up until 2018. [14]

Parker was a New South Wales finalist in the 2019 Australian of the Year Awards, in the category of Senior Australian of the Year. [15]

Publications: academic and non-academic

Parker has published more than 900 papers, over 600 in peer-reviewed journals; 70 book chapters; and written or edited 18 books. A complete list is available at the UNSW Faculty of Medicine website, Professor Gordon Barraclough Parker publications: [16]

Non-academic output

Parker has worked as a creative writer – writing for The Mavis Bramston Show, a cartoonist for Oz magazine and The Bulletin, and a book reviewer for major Australian newspapers. He was an ABC Science broadcaster in Sydney and in London. [17] His play, Personality Games, was staged in 2004 at The Wharf Theatre in Sydney [18] and La Mama's Carlton Courthouse in Melbourne. [19]

Books

Related Research Articles

Major depressive disorder Mental disorder involving persistent low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest

Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Those affected may also occasionally have delusions or hallucinations. Introduced by a group of US clinicians in the mid-1970s, the term was adopted by the American Psychiatric Association for this symptom cluster under mood disorders in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), and has become widely used since.

John Frederick Joseph Cade AO was an Australian psychiatrist who in 1948 discovered the effects of lithium carbonate as a mood stabilizer in the treatment of bipolar disorder, then known as manic depression. At a time when the standard treatments for psychosis were electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomy, lithium had the distinction of being the first effective medication available to treat a mental illness.

Melancholia Historical view of extreme depression

Melancholia or melancholy is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complaints, and sometimes hallucinations and delusions.

Mood disorder Group of conditions characterised by a disturbance in mood

A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Depression (mood) State of low mood and aversion to activity

Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity, which affects more than 280 million people of all ages. Classified medically as a mental and behavioral disorder, the experience of depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, motivation, feelings, and sense of well-being. The core symptom of depression is said to be anhedonia, which refers to loss of interest or a loss of feeling of pleasure in certain activities that usually bring joy to people. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder or dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments. It may feature sadness, difficulty in thinking and concentration and a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping. People experiencing depression may have feelings of dejection, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. It can either be short term or long term.

Cyclical variations in moods and energy levels have been recorded at least as far back as several thousand years. The words "melancholia" and "mania" have their etymologies in Ancient Greek. The word melancholia is derived from melas/μελας, meaning "black", and chole/χολη, meaning "bile" or "gall", indicative of the term's origins in pre-Hippocratic humoral theories. A man known as Aretaeus of Cappadocia has the first records of analyzing the symptoms of depression and mania in the 1st century of Greece. There is documentation that explains how bath salts were used to calm those with manic symptoms and also help those who are dealing with depression. Even today, lithium is used as a treatment to bipolar disorder which is significant because lithium could have been an ingredient in the Greek bath salt. Centuries passed and very little was studied or discovered. It wasn't until the mid-19th century that a French psychiatrist by the name of Jean-Pierre Falret wrote an article describing "circular insanity" and this is believed to be the first recorded diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Years later, in the early 1900s, Emil Kraepelin, a German psychiatrist, analyzed the influence of biology on mental disorders, including bipolar disorder. His studies are still used as the basis of classification of mental disorders today.

Hagop S. Akiskal Armenian-American psychiatrist

Hagop Souren Akiskal was a Lebanese-born American psychiatrist and professor, of Armenian descent. He is best known for his research on temperament and bipolar disorder, revolutionizing the field of clinical psychiatry.

Guy Goodwin is a senior research fellow and until recently was the W.A. Handley Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford (2014). A fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Goodwin has served as principal investigator in many clinical trials for the treatment of bipolar disorder. He is also an Emeritus Senior Investigator at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and has been on the advisory boards of numerous research councils. He was President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology from 2013 to 2016.

What was previously known as melancholia and is now known as clinical depression, major depression, or simply depression and commonly referred to as major depressive disorder by many health care professionals, has a long history, with similar conditions being described at least as far back as classical times.

Black Dog Institute

The Black Dog Institute is a not-for-profit facility for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. It was founded in 2002 by the UNSW School of Psychiatry Scientia Professor Gordon Parker and is based in Sydney, Australia.

Philip Boyce (psychiatrist)

Philip Manley Boyce is an Australian psychiatrist. He is a professor of psychiatry and head of discipline of psychiatry at the University of Sydney, and head of Perinatal Psychiatry Clinical Research Unit at Westmead Hospital. He has published more than 170 articles, and frequently contributes to psychiatric textbooks. He currently serves as associate editor of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. He has a long clinical and research interest in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychosomatic disorders, and perinatal psychiatry. He has also taken leadership roles in the profession as president of the RANZCP and the international Marcé society, in the development of clinical practice guidelines, and in the development of a competency-based training program for the college.

Neuroscience Research Australia

Neuroscience Research Australia is an independent medical research institute based in Sydney, Australia. Previously called the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, the institute relaunched as Neuroscience Research Australia on 1 June 2010. NeuRA is accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Melancholic depression Medical condition

Melancholic depression, or depression with melancholic features, is a DSM-IV and DSM-5 subtype of clinical depression.

Perminder Sachdev is a neuropsychiatrist based in Australia. He is the Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, the director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW, and the Clinical Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI) at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

Augustus John Rush is an internationally renowned psychiatrist. He is a professor emeritus in Duke-NUS Medical School at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He has authored and edited more than 10 books, and over 600 scientific journal articles that are largely focused on the diagnosis and treatment of depressive and bipolar disorders.

Lori L. Altshuler American psychiatrist

Lori Altshuler was a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and held the Julia S. Gouw Endowed Chair for Mood Disorders. Altshuler was the Director of the UCLA Mood Disorders Research Program and the UCLA Women's Life Center, each being part of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.

Richard Bryant (psychologist) Australian psychologist

Richard Allan Bryant is an Australian medical scientist. He is Scientia Professor of Psychology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and director of the UNSW Traumatic Stress Clinic, based at UNSW and Westmead Institute for Medical Research. His main areas of research are posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and prolonged grief disorder. On 13 June 2016 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), for eminent service to medical research in the field of psychotraumatology, as a psychologist and author, to the study of Indigenous mental health, as an advisor to a range of government and international organisations, and to professional societies.

Professor Maree Rose Teesson AC, FAAHMS, FASSA, is an Australian expert on mental health. She is the Director of The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. She is also professorial fellow at the Black Dog Institute, UNSW.

Bettina Meiser is a professor at the University of New South Wales, with expertise in the psychosocial aspects of genetics; cancer, hereditary cancer, and the impact of genetic counselling and testing.

Mauricio Tohen is a Mexican American research psychiatrist, Distinguished Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico. Tohen's research has focused on the epidemiology, outcome, and treatment of bipolar and psychotic disorders, and is especially known for innovating the design of clinical trials and the criteria to determine outcome in such diseases. Tohen has edited several books on his specialties. His social awareness has been noted in the promotion of programs to improve mental health care in areas such as substance abuse, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

References

  1. ↑ "Gordon Parker - Black Dog Institute". Blackdoginstitute.org.au. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  2. ↑ A Piece of My Mind : A Psychiatrist on the Couch, MacMillan, Sydney, 2012
  3. ↑ "Overview - Black Dog Institute". Blackdoginstitute.org.au. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Parker, G., Fink, M., Shorter, E., Taylor, M.A., Akiskal, H., Berrios, G., Bolwig, T., Brown, W.A., Carroll, B., Healy, D., Klein, D.F., Koukopoulos, A., Michels, R., Paris, J., Rubin, R.T., Spitzer, R., and Swartz, C. (2010). Editorial: Issues for DSM-5: Whither Melancholia? The Case for Its Classification as a Distinct Mood Disorder. Am J Psychiatry 167(7):745-747.
  5. ↑ Parker, G. (2015). Editorial: Povl Munk‐Jørgensen Edits Left. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 132(6):415-502.
  6. ↑ "Gordon Parker - Google Scholar Citations" . Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  7. ↑ Finlay-Jones, R. (1988). Editorial: Gordon Parker, Editor 1979-1987. Aust NZ J Psychiatry 22(1):10-11.
  8. ↑ Barrett, R (17 March 2010). "Push for melancholia to be listed as illness". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "Melancholia Gets Its Moment". YouTube . 17 March 2010. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Gordon Parker - Google Scholar Citations" . Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  11. ↑ Donnelly, F. (2008) Reviews: Journeys with the Black Dog. BJ Psych Bulletin 32(11):440.
  12. ↑ "Tackling Depression at Work - Kerrie Eyers Gordon Parker - 9781742373324 - Allen & Unwin - Australia". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "News - Black Dog Institute". Blackdoginstitute.org.au. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  14. 1 2 "Scientia Professor Protocol, Human Resources, UNSW". Hr.unsw.edu.au. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  15. ↑ Singhal, Pallavi (8 November 2018). "Finalists announced for 2019 NSW Australian of the Year Awards". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  16. ↑ "Select Publications: By Scientia Professor Gordon Barraclough Parker". University of New South Wales, Sydney. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  17. ↑ "Gordon Parker AO | Vivid 2017". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017.
  18. ↑ “Personality Games”, Sydney STC, Theatre I, The Wharf, Walsh Bay, 17 October 2004
  19. ↑ Personality Games, La Mama, Carlton, Victoria, 21 September 2004
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