Mental Health Consequences of C19 Restrictions with Dr. Gary Sidley

Dr. Gary Sidley is a former NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist. He achieved an honours degree in biochemistry/physiology before gaining employment in the NHS mental health system in 1980, initially as a psychiatric nurse. He qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1989 and worked in a variety of adult mental health settings. He obtained his PhD in 2000 for a thesis exploring the psychological predictors of suicidal behaviour. In 2013, he opted for retirement, after having operated for several years as a Professional Lead/Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
He is a vocal critic of bio-medical approaches to mental health, illustrating his concerns with anecdotes drawn from his extensive experience of working within the psychiatric system. His book, Tales from the Madhouse: An insider critique of psychiatric services, was published by PCCS Books in February 2015.

Throughout his career, Gary has presented numerous workshops on a range of topics including cognitive behaviour therapy for depression, suicide risk assessment, advance decisions and understanding deliberate self-harm. More recently, he has delivered training on psychiatry’s misuse of power, the discriminatory nature of the Mental Health Act, the stigma-enhancing effects of an ‘illness like any other’ mantra and psychiatry’s perverse approach to risk.

In early 2020, he became extremely concerned about the Government’s response to the coronavirus crisis; his writings on this subject can be found on his ‘CORONABABBLE’ blog. Gary is also a member of the Health Advisory & Recovery Team (HART) and the Smile Free campaign to lift all mask mandates.

This is an edited segment from the weekly live General Assembly meeting on August 15, 2022.

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