Clinical Psychology and Clinical Neuropsychology

Our Clinical Psychologists and Clinical Neuropsychologists work with patients, families and healthcare teams to support psychological wellbeing and address emotional, cognitive and behavioural factors that may affect a person’s health, recovery or participation in treatment.

Clinical psychology

Clinical psychology is concerned with how thinking, emotion and behaviour shape health, and with how illness, injury and medical treatment affect a person's psychological wellbeing. Clinical psychologists are trained to assess complex presentations, work out what is driving a problem, and deliver psychological treatments supported by strong evidence.

In hospital, that work reaches well beyond mental illness. Our clinical psychologists help people adjust to a life-changing diagnosis or serious injury; manage complex pain, fatigue and other difficult symptoms; work through fear of procedures or distress after traumatic medical events that is standing in the way of necessary treatment; make sense of symptoms that do not have a clear medical explanation; and make lasting changes to the everyday behaviours that shape long-term health. They advise treating teams on the psychological factors affecting a person's distress, decision-making and engagement in care, and provide specialised assessment and therapy for people admitted with acute mental illness.

Clinical Neuropsychology

Clinical neuropsychology is concerned with the relationship between the brain and behaviour, and with applying that understanding to diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. Clinical neuropsychologists assess memory, attention, language, reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making, using standardised measures to build a detailed picture of how a person's thinking is working and how it has changed.

That picture answers questions that matter to patients, families and treating teams. Are these cognitive changes explained by dementia, delirium, depression, or the effects of a stroke or brain injury? What is this person likely to manage safely at home, at work, or behind the wheel? What supports and rehabilitation will make the most difference? Where relevant, neuropsychological assessment also informs decisions about a person's capacity to make particular choices for themselves. Neuropsychologists work directly with patients and families to explain what has changed and to develop practical strategies for living well with it.