Mary Boyle is now retired. She is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology and was an academic tutor on the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology. She is also an Honorary Clinical Psychologist in Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, specialising in psychological aspects of women’s health. Her main areas of interest are in critical clinical psychology and in feminist approaches to women’s health. She is also interested in raising public awareness of the problems of traditional psychiatric approaches to emotional and behavioural difficulties.

• Critical Psychology
• Women’s Health
• Feminism and Psychology

• BSc Psychology
• MSc Conselling Psychology
• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

• PY2001 — Research Methods 3

• Fellow of the British Psychological Society
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
• International Advisory Board of Feminism and Psychology

The prevention of “schizophrenia” has received little attention, not least because it is claimed that its causes are largely unknown. I argue that this pessimistic view is based on acceptance of both the highly problematic concept of schizophrenia and of the assumption that “it” is a genetic/biological illness. The problems of both the concept and its surrounding assumptions are examined and an alternative model of psychotic behaviour and experience, with very different implications for prevention, is discussed. (from ‘Preventing a Non-Existent Illness?: Some Issues in the Prevention of “Schizophrenia”’. Journal of Primary Prevention. 24 (2004) 445–469.

• It’s all done with smoke and mirrors
• Psychology and reproductive choice
• Recent Advances in Understanding Mental Illness and Psychotic Experiences