Derek Summerfield
Template:Use dmy dates Derek Summerfield is an honorary senior lecturer at London's Institute of Psychiatry and a member of the Executive Committee of Transcultural Special Interest Group at the Royal College of Psychiatry. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association. He has published around 150 papers and has made other contributions in medical and social sciences literature.<ref>"Dr. Derek Summerfield, BSc(Hons), MBBS, MRCPsych." Template:Webarchive Accessed 4-24-2012.</ref>
Clinical backgroundEdit
Dr. Summerfield was born in South Africa.<ref>"Derek Summerfield: Apartheid revisited." Al-Ahram Weekly, 14 - 20 August 2008, Issue No. 910. Template:Webarchive</ref> He qualified in medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. During his working career, he has been Principal Psychiatrist with the Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture in London, Honorary Senior Lecturer at St George's Hospital Medical School at the University of London<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and a consultant to Oxfam on projects in war-affected settings. He was a Research/Teaching Associate for the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford.<ref>Refugee Studies Centre Annual Report 2006-2007. Accessed 4-24-2012.</ref>
Research and publicationsEdit
In 1995 he participated in a study on the psychiatric effects of the detention and torture of Palestinian political prisoners.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He has been involved with various studies on the effects of war and atrocity,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Summerfield, D. (1995). "Addressing human response to war and atrocity." in Beyond Trauma, New York: Plenum: 17-29.</ref><ref>Summerfield, D. (1997) "The impact of war and atrocity on civilian populations." Psychological trauma: A developmental approach. D. Black, M. Newman, J. Harris-Hendricks and G. Mezey. Glasgow, Royal College of Psychiatrists: 148-155. Template:Webarchive</ref> and of displacement and asylum-seeking<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in Nicaragua,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Guatemala,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Bosnia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the UK.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He has published extensively on the effects of torture<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> as well as the effects of war-related violence on women<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and children.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He drew international attention with a series of publications questioning the existence of post-traumatic stress disorder,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> criticizing the medicalization of psychotherapy for trauma<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the exaggeration of mental illness statistics.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Recently he has argued that global mental health statistics should take into account differing ethnopsychiatric definitions.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Palestinian controversyEdit
Summerfield has been a vocal critic of the Israeli Government's actions against Palestinians<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and of what he believes are Israeli physicians' violations of medical ethics.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> An October 16, 2004 editorial published by the British Medical Journal,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> concerning what he described as the level of Israeli violence against Palestinian children generated controversy and a number of responses both negative<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and positive.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also attempted unsuccessfully to force Yoram Blachar to resign as head of the World Medical Association after spearheading a petition drive claiming Blachar supported torture while he was working in Israel.<ref>"Doctors demand Yoram Blachar resign as ethics chief over Israeli torture," The Guardian, Sunday 21 June 2009 .</ref>
Critical PsychiatryEdit
Dr. Summerfield is a member of UK branch of The International Critical Psychiatry Network.<ref>Authors, The International Critical Psychiatry Network Template:Webarchive Accessed May 10th, 2013</ref>