Professor Daniel Freeman
About
Professor Freeman's research focuses on improving our understanding of and treatments for delusions and hallucinations. Drawing on a variety of approaches, including epidemiological studies, psychological experiments, clinical trials, and a ground-breaking virtual reality laboratory, he aims to develop carefully tested psychological treatments that will truly make a difference.
He is committed to making knowledge of the best psychological research and treatments for mental health problems available to the general public. He has written a number of popular science books on mental health issues. The latest, The Stressed Sex: Uncovering the Truth about Men, Women, and Mental Health, sets out to answer a simple, but crucial, question: are rates of psychological disorder different for men and women?
Expertise
- Mental health issues
- Paranoia
- Sleep difficulties, anxiety and depression
- Psychological therapy
- Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
Selected publications
- Virtual reality in the treatment of persecutory delusions: randomised controlled experimental study testing how to reduce delusional conviction (2016)
- Effects of cognitive behaviour therapy for worry on persecutory delusions in patients with psychosis (WIT): a parallel, single-blind, randomised controlled trial with a mediation analysis (2015)
- How cannabis causes paranoia: using the intravenous administration of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to identify key cognitive mechanisms leading to paranoia (2015)
- The Stressed Sex: Uncovering the Truth about Men, Women, and Mental Health (2013)
- Paranoia and post-traumatic stress disorder in the months after a physical assault: a longitudinal study examining shared and differential predictors (2013)
Media experience
Professor Freeman has extensive media experience including national print and broadcast. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian.
Recent media work
- Google explores troll prevention in VR
- Paranoia 'reduced with virtual reality'
- Virtually life changing! VR headsets can cure paranoia by making wearers feel safe while facing their fears
- VR Virtual reality: the next frontier
- Do tall people deserve to earn more?
- New study shows mindfulness therapy can be as effective as antidepressants