Professor Anthony David comes to Bell House to discuss his new book Into the Abyss, in conversation with Dr Emma Staples.

We cannot know how to fix a problem until we understand its causes. But even for some of the most common mental health problems, three specialists might offer you three completely different treatments.

As a cognitive neuropsychiatrist, Professor Anthony David brings together many fields of study, from social and cognitive psychology to neurology. The key for each patient might be anything from a traumatic memory to a chemical imbalance, an unhealthy way of thinking or a hidden tumour.

Anthony David comes to Bell House to discuss his new book, in conversation with Dr Emma Staples, Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at the Maudsley Hospital.

Patrick believes he is dead; Jennifer's schizophrenia medication seems to bring on the symptoms of Parkinson's; Emma is in a coma – or is she just refusing to respond? These are the fascinating case studies that have driven the most startling insights in Anthony's forty-year career studying illnesses at the edge of human understanding.

Tickets cost £10, and the book will be available to buy. Bursary tickets are available - please email [email protected] to find out more information.

About the speaker

Anthony David is former head of psychiatry at the renowned Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London and the Maudsley, South London, the country’s leading psychiatric institution. He is now the director of the UCL Institute of Mental Health. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles and is editor of the journal Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. He also wrote the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of R D Laing's The Divided Self.