Professor Alan Carson
Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Honorary Professor
Background
Dr Carson graduated in Medicine from Edinburgh University in 1991 and completed basic Psychiatry training at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Following six months as a Wellcome Research Fellow examining the cognitive effects of HIV infection in a Kenyan population, he was Lecturer and Honorary Senior Registrar in Psychiatry at University of Edinburgh.
During this time he developed his interest in neuropsychiatry and was trained by Professor Michael Sharpe, Professor David Owens and Professor Charles Warlow. He was subsequently appointed Consultant Neuropsychiatrist to Rehabilitation Medicine at the Astley Ainslie Hospital and to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Western General Hospital.
He was an original grant holder for the development of the Scottish Mental Health Research Network.
Responsibilities & affiliations
- Associate Editor of Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
- Director - National Managed Clinical Network for Acquired Brain Injury
- Honorary Fellowship Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh
- Honorary Fellowship Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh
- Board of Directors - British Neuropsychiatry Association
- Editorial Board Member - Brain Injury (Journal of International Brain Injury Association)
- Co-editor Hallett M, Stone J, Carson A. Handbook of Neurology: Functional Symptoms
- Executive Board member - Neuropsychiatry Section, Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Royal College of Psychiatrists’ advisor on somatoform disorders for DSM V & ICD 11 revisions
- Scottish Government - Chair of writing group - General Practice Guidelines on CFS/ME
- Previous Chairman - Scottish Head Injury Forum
- Presidents Medal, Royal College of Psychiatrists (2017)
Research summary
Dr Carson's general interest is in disorders that lie at the borderland between clinical psychiatry and neurology. He is particularly interested in the inter-relationship between brain, behaviour and health beliefs. Clinically he runs a neurorehabilitation service that specialises in behavioural modification following brain injury but from a research perspective he has used similar principles to examine and treat functional neurological symptoms.
He was Principal Investigator of the Scottish Neurological Symptoms Study. He has a longstanding collaboration with Dr Jon Stone, Consultant Neurologist. He also has involvement in studies in behavioural complications of stroke, head injury and brain tumours. External collaborators include Mark Edwards, Laura Goldstein, Michael Sharpe, Markus Reuber, Jon Mellers, Richard Kanaan, Tim Nicholson and Tony David.
Related links
Functional disorders research at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences
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A Digital Health Intervention for Concussion: Development and Clinical Feasibility Study
In:
JMIR formative research, vol. 7, pp. e43557
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/43557
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Heading in the right direction
In:
Nature Reviews Neurology, vol. 18, pp. 573-574
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-022-00712-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (Published) -
A systematic review of digital technology to evaluate motor function and disease progression in motor neuron disease
In:
Journal of Neurology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-022-11312-7
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Moderators of cognitive behavioural therapy treatment effects and predictors of outcome in the CODES randomised controlled trial for adults with dissociative seizures
In:
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 158
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.110921
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Six-month outcomes of the CODES randomised controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy for dissociative seizures: A secondary analysis
In:
Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy, vol. 96, pp. 128-136
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seizure.2022.01.016
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)