David M Clark

Research Summary

My research mainly focuses on cognitive approaches to the understanding and treatment of anxiety disorders. My team uses a closely integrated programme of experimental and clinical studies. The general strategy has been to: (i) use clinical interviews and cognitive psychology paradigms to identify the core cognitive abnormality in an anxiety disorder; (ii) to construct a theoretical account which explains why the cognitive abnormality does not self-correct; (iii) test the hypothesised maintaining factors in rigorous experimental studies; (iv) develop specialised cognitive treatments which aim to reverse the maintaining factors; (v) test the efficacy of the treatments in randomised controlled trials.

The research has led to the development of new and effective cognitive therapy programmes for three different anxiety disorders: panic disorder, social phobia and posttraumatic stress disorder, each of which are recommended first line treatment options in current NICE guidelines. 

A further strand of my research has focused on how to disseminate the new treatments so they can be made available to as many people as possible. The first major dissemination project focussed on training clinicians in cognitive therapy for PTSD in order to provide effective treatment services for victims of bombs in Omagh and London. The second project is the English Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme that aims to train an extra 6,000 new psychological therapists by 2015 and deploy them in specialist services for anxiety disorders and depression. I have been involved with the programme since its inception and am currently the National Clinical and Informatics Advisor. I also chair the Mental Health Information Network, which publishes detailed data on the outcomes achieved by all IAPT services. A third project involves developing and evaluating internet versions of the treatments.

A broad overview of my work can be found in Layard & Clark's (2014) Thrive (Penguin).