I am a Clinical Psychologist that did my Clinical PhD at the University of Coimbra and collaborates with the CINEICC in Portugal and the Compassionate Mind Foundation led by Professor Paul Gilbert in the UK as well as the Laboratory of Epsylon in France. My expertise focuses on adult psychopathology and I have extensive clinical experience in assessing, diagnosing and treating diverse psychiatric disorders. I am an expert in clinical medicine and in psychosis and in advanced cognitive and behavioural therapy and I have interest in cross-disciplinary research that tackles cross-cultural issues of mental health in diverse contexts.
I have been developing research with an intent of developing a multi-level theory of paranoia that can be applied to diversified contexts and that addresses both individual and group levels of paranoia.
I have collaborated in research projects that cover issues of social identity and HIV risk of ethnic minorities in the UK, psychological issues of patients suffering from cancer, inductions and support for palliative care professionals, paranoia and Islamophobia and workplace bullying, paranoia and workplace deviance and poor wellbeing in UK and French workers. I also developed research uncovering the cognitive and behavioural mechanisms of paranoia and social anxiety in both clinical and non-clinical populations looking at how to shape personalised psychological interventions that would help people suffering from different types of mental disorders.
Experience
2017–present
Senior research associate, CINEICC, University of Coimbra
2016–2017
Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University
2013–2016
Senior Lecturer, De Montfort University
2011–2012
Lecturer, Southampton Solent University
Education
2011
Universidade de Coimbra, PhD in Clinical Psychology
2002
University of Southampton, MPhil/PhD
1999
University of Kent, BSc.(Hons) Psychology with Clinical Psychology
Publications
2018
Interoception enhanced via the ears: The role of audition in heartbeat perception., Journal of Psychophysiology
2018
Sexual abuse and HIV risk behaviour among black and minority ethnic men who have sex with men in the UK., Mental Health, Religion & Culture
2018
Coping with Perceived Abusive Supervision in the Workplace: The Role of Paranoia, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies
2018
The roles of socio-economic status and job rank on the epidemiology of different psychiatric symptoms in a sample of UK workers., Community Mental Health Journal
2018
A structural Education Model redict PrEP acceptability in MSM in Leicester , HIV Medicine
2018
HIV knowledge, sexual health and sexual behaviour among Black and Ethnic Minority men who have sex with men in the UK: a cross-sectional study. , Sexual Health
2017
Who do we troll and why: an investigation into the relationship between dark personalities and online trolling behaviours towards popular and less popular Facebook profiles, Computers in Human Behaviour
Inductions buffer nurses’ job stress, health and organizational commitment., Archives of of Environmental and Occupational Health
2014
Inductions can avert psychosocial risks to palliative staff, Psyco-oncology
2013
How do non clinical paranoid individuals and socially anxious individuals react to negative vs. positive affective laden sounds?, International Journal of Applied Psychology
2013
The relationship between childhood experiences of a threatening environment at home, variables of ranking (external and internal shame), sensitivity to put down and paranoid beliefs in a Portuguese sample of students. , Journal of Progress Psychology
2013
Differences Between Victims of Bullying and Non-victims on Levels of Paranoid Ideation and Persecutory Symptoms, the Presence of Aggressive Traits, the Display of Social Anxiety and the Recall of Childhood Abuse Experiences in a Portuguese Mixed Clinical Sample., Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
2012
The impact of predisposition to hallucinations on paranoid vs. socially anxious individuals when faced with negative affective-laden sounds: an experimental investigation. , Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
2012
How Do Non-Clinical Paranoid and Socially Anxious Individuals React to Failure? The Role of Hostility and State Anxiety. , Journal of Forensic Research
2003
Paranoia in a Normal College Population., Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease