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Outline Biography
I have degrees in Psychology from the Universities of London (University College), Sussex and Birmingham. I completed clinical psychology training at the University of Birmingham, then worked as a clinical psychologist at Guy's Hospital and then the Maudsley and Bethlem Hospitals in London.
Following a 4-year spell as a Medical Research Council researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, I subsequently worked as a lecturer then senior lecturer in London. I spent a 6-month sabbatical working in Geneva for the World Health Organization helping to develop the WHOQOL measure of quality of life. I have been Professor of Clinical Psychology in Edinburgh since 1995.
I am one of the founder-editors of the journal, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. My most recent authored book published in 2012 is Adieu to God: Why Psychology Leads to Atheism, which is an account of the psychological reasons why religion survives in the face of so much scientific evidence to the contrary.
Research Interests
A range of European Union and WHO funded studies on quality of life. These include an adaptation of the WHOQOL for older adults, a study of healthy ageing, the development of a measure for assessing QOL in children and adolescents, and the adaptation of the WHOQOL for a learning disabilities population.
The development of models of cognition and emotion and their relation to emotional disorders. Following the development of the SPAARS model with Tim Dalgleish (Power & Dalgleish, 1997; 2008), we are currently developing measures of emotion states in normal and clinical groups and examining controlled and automatic processes in emotion.
Psychological therapies and their adaptation for use in primary care settings and with non-traditional disorder groups. These studies have included an RCT of Interpersonal Psychotherapy versus Cognitive Behaviour Therapy funded by the Scottish Executive and a study of bipolar disorders funded by the Community Fund and by the Scottish Executive.
Publications
Publications list for Mick Power
This article was published on Feb 27, 2012