Dr Tim Nicholson

Biography

Dr Tim Nicholson is a Reader in Neuropsychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London where he leads the Neuropsychiatry Research and Education Group (NREG). He is an Honorary Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. His clinical and research work focuses on Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), immunopsychiatry and broader neuropsychiatric disorders - including those resulting from COVID-19.

He set up a pioneering specialist multidisciplinary clinic for FND in 2012 and has over 20 years of experience working clinically with FND and it was the topic of his PhD and the majority of his subsequent research activity including leading on studies into mechanisms, outcome measures and novel treatments such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and more recently psychedelics and Virtual Reality. He has also led and been involved in research investigating autoimmune causes of psychiatric symptoms, such as OCD and psychosis, and been involved in work seeking to understand the extent and causes of both acute and chronic neurological and psychiatric complications of COVID-19. He currently works in a multidisciplinary team clinic for Long COVID at King’s College Hospital providing neuropsychiatric input.

He has published over 130 peer reviewed papers, co-edited a book on FND movement disorders and has written 8 book chapters on FND. He also wrote and developed the Pocket Prescriber series of pharmacology textbooks which have sold over half a million copies - the 2^nd edition of Pocket Prescriber Psychiatry, written in collaboration with the British Association of Psychopharmacology, will be published in 2024.

He is on the executive committee of the Neuropsychiatry faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrist and the British Neuropsychiatry Association. He is secretary of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine and chairs the MSc in Clinical Neuropsychiatry at the IoPPN. He is co-chair of the patient liaison committee of the FND Society, on the committee of the UK FND network and on the medical advisory board of FND Hope, FND Action and Long COVID Support.

Address:   PO68, Neuropsychiatry Research & Education Group, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF

Qualifications: MBBS, BSc, MSc, PhD, MRCP, MRCPsych 

Books 

Pocket Prescriber Psychiatry – in collaboration with British Association for Psychopharmacology 

• Rogers J, Cheung C, Nicholson TR, Pocket Prescriber Psychiatry CRC Press, Oxford. 2019 

Pocket Prescriber (8 editions & translated into Greek and Indonesian) 

• Nicholson TR, Singer DR. Pocket Prescriber 2015. 8th Edition. CRC press, Oxford 2015. 

Pocket Prescriber Emergency 

• Brown A, Nicholson TR, Singer DR. Pocket Prescriber Emergency. CRC Press, Oxford 2013. 

Mnemonics for the MRCP 

• Nicholson TR. Mnemonics for the MRCP. PasTest, Knutsford 2006. 

Book chapters 

• Nicholson TR, Voon V.  Transcranial magnetic stimulation and sedation as treatment for functional neurologic disorders, in Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Eds Stone J, Carson A & Hallett M. Cambridge University Press 2017.  
• Nicholson TR, Aybek S, Zelaya F, Craig TK, David AS, Kanaan RA. “Imaging: recall of causal life events.” Extended abstract in “Psychogenic movement disorders and related conversion disorders” Eds Hallet M, Cloniger CR, Fahn S, Halligan P, Jankovic J, Lang AE and Voon V. Cambridge University Press 2011. 

Research Interests

• Neuropsychiatry 
• Functional Neurological Disorder 
• Immunopsychiatry 

Research Groups

• Neuropsychiatry Research & Education Group (NREG)
• Functional Neurological Disorder 
• Immunopsychiatry 

Expertise and Public Engagement 

Involvement in organisations outside KCL 

• Secretary of British Neuropsychiatry Association (since 2016) 
• Committee member of Neuropsychiatry Faculty of Royal College of Psychiatrists (since 2016) 
• Secretary of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (since 2010);  

Public events 

• Anniversary debate on ‘Studies on Hysteria’ at Freud Museum - Sold out 80 seat seminar room. >10,000+ views of Youtube videos of event.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPOoMhv4Z2w&t=104s 
• Medical advisor for a play on FND ”Still Ill”; sold out 1st (4 week) run at New Diorama theatre, Regents Park. 4* review in Timeout. 2nd run Jan 2018, including special performance at the Institute of Psychiatry  
• Shellshock centenary event: sold out event at old military rehabilitation hospital (Seale Hayne, Devon) 19th May 2018; speakers include Prof Sir Simon Wessely, Prof Edgar Jones & Dr Jon Stone.  

Work with patient organisations 

• Engagement with FND patient organisations (FND hope, FND action & FND dimensions); I am on Medical Advisory Board and key psychiatry contact for all three groups and write webpages for these organisations and participatied in webinars/awareness day events for all these charities 
• Collaboratively we have help re-write out of date online resources for patients (e.g . Patient.info, NHS choices) 
• Stakeholder feedback to the WHO ICD-11 committee  
• Application with FND Hope / other FND professionals to NICE to initiate the development of guidelines for FND.