Q&A with clinicians - Prof David Veale, Prof Georgina Krebs, Dr Amita Jassi & Dr Rob Willson.

Speaker Bios:

Professor David Veale is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, where he directs a national specialist service for people with OCD and BDD and in private practice. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. He has co-authored a self-help book on Overcoming Body Dysmorphic Disorder and a treatment manual for professionals. He has been researching BDD for nearly 30 years and has published about 60 scientific and teaching articles in BDD. He was motivated to improve the care of people with BDD after the suicide of a patient with BDD in 1991. David is a long standing and highly valued Patron of the BDD Foundation.

Georgina Krebs is Professor of Young People’s Mental Health at University College London (UCL), where she co-leads the Anxiety, Self-Image, and Mood (AIM) Lab. Much of her research focuses on BDD, and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, alongside numerous book chapters written for both academic and clinical audiences. She is also an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist and leads the AIM Clinic at UCL, a specialist service supporting students with BDD. Prior to joining UCL, she worked for over 15 years in a specialist clinic for young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, BDD and related conditions at the Maudsley Hospital. Georgina is committed to translating research into clinical practice, with the aim of improving and standardising mental health care for young people. She currently serves as the Topic Advisor to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guideline for obsessive–compulsive disorder and BDD, contributing specialist expertise to the development of evidence-based recommendations.

Dr Amita Jassi is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and lead for the National Specialist BDD service for young people at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. She has worked with young people with BDD, OCD and related disorders since 2006. In her clinical role, she leads multi-disciplinary specialist assessments and develops and delivers individually-tailored treatment packages. Amita has taught and trained nationally and internationally and engages with media to help increase awareness and understanding of BDD and related disorders. She has authored several books on OCD and BDD and published peer-reviewed papers in this field.

Dr Rob Willson is a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist with a special interest in BDD and related disorders. He co-authored with David Veale and Alex Clarke the self-help book Overcoming BDD. He first became involved in research on BDD around 30 years ago. Currently, he divides his time between private practice and conducting research on improving the understanding and treatment of BDD. Rob is Chair of the BDD Foundation, and was indirectly involved in the original launch of the Foundation through his participation in a BBC TV documentary Too Ugly for Love. Rob hopes that the Foundation will help to raise a far greater level of awareness of BDD amongst people with the disorder, the general public, and healthcare professionals. He believes that there is a great deal to be done in terms of improving identification/diagnosis, understanding of how serious BDD can be, and that it can be successfully overcome.