Joanna Moncrieff Biography

Joanna Moncrieff obtained her medical degree from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She is Professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London, and also works as a consultant psychiatrist in the National Health Service in London. She has written two academic books about psychiatric drugs published by Palgrave Macmillan, a guide for the public, published by PCCS Books, and a guide for therapists commissioned by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence. She has been awarded large government grants to study psychiatric drug treatment, and has published numerous research papers on psychiatric drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics and lithium. She was the lead author of an influential study demonstrating no links between serotonin and depression published in 2022. She has also published papers on the history, philosophy and politics of psychiatry more generally. She has written for The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Conversation, Literary Review and regularly contributes to blogsites, including Mad in America. She has been interviewed for numerous podcasts, including The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast and the Evening Standard’s tech and Science Daily and she was profiled in the Spectator magazine. She is a founder member and co-chairperson of the Critical Psychiatry Network, an influential network of psychiatrists and other doctors.  

How I Found the Agency

I was directed to Andrew by a colleague who had written a book that presents a critical view of the current mental health system, which had done very well. So far Andrew has been extremely efficient, friendly and helpful.