Introduction

Paul Raymond Gilbert OBE (born 20 July 1951) is a British clinical psychologist. Gilbert is the founder of compassion focused therapy (CFT), compassionate mind training (CMT) and the author of books such as The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life’s Challenges and Overcoming Depression.

Before retirement Gilbert was head of the Mental Health Research Unit, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. He remains Professor at the University of Derby. In 2011 Gilbert was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his continued contribution in mental healthcare.

Early Life and Education

Gilbert was born in The Gambia and went to a British boarding school in 1962. In early life he considered being a rock guitarist but “unfortunately I was a very average sort of player and I recognized that this wasn’t going to take me very far”. He went to the University of Wolverhampton to study economics, graduating in 1973 before pursuing a career as a psychologist. In 1975 Gilbert gained an MA in Experimental Psychology from the University of Sussex followed by a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Edinburgh in 1980.

Clinical Psychology

In 1993 Gilbert was made a fellow of the British Psychological Society for his contributions to psychological knowledge and was president of the British Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapy in 2003. He served on the government’s National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for depression. By 2011 Gilbert had published and edited 21 books, over 100 academic papers and 50 book chapters. In addition Professor Gilbert is currently editor for the “Compassionate Approaches to Life Difficulties” book series. Gilbert sits on the Emotion, Personality and Altruism Research Group at the Wright Institute (1992 – present) and is Visiting Professor at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and the University of Coimbra (Portugal).

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