Staff Profile
Professor Claire Lomax
Director of the Psychological Therapies Training and Research Unit (PTTRU)
- Email: claire.lomax@ncl.ac.uk
- Address: School of Psychology,
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
Background
I trained as a clinical psychologist in 2005 at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IOPPN) at King's College London in 2005. Before this I undertook a PhD also at IOPPN looking at the impact of neurodegenerative disease on patients and their caregivers. Since then I have had NHS posts working with adults and children with anxiety disorders, with my main areas of clinical and research experience being with OCD and Hoarding Disorder. I worked for 3 years on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme at the University of Bath as Senior Research Tutor and took up the post of Programme Director in 2017 for the DClinPsy programme at Newcastle University.
Current role
As Director of the Psychological Therapies Training and Research Unit, I lead and manage the psychological professions training programmes within the School of Psychology. These provide an excellent educational experience for students who will become the NHS workforce in mental health services within our region. Alongside management of the psychological professions programmes, I am also Clinic Director of the Newcastle University Psychological Therapies Research and Training Clinic, a clinical service which provides our students with an on-site and accessible service to access CBT, the only NICE recommended evidence-based talking therapy treatment for anxiety and depression. The clinic also provides clinical placements for our trainee psychologists, increasing our training capacity and supporting the long-term NHS workforce plan.
I am part of the Board of the Clearing House for Postgraduate Courses in Clinical Psychology. Clearing House (CH) is registered as a non-profit educational charity and works with programmes to provide a single point of application, processing a high volume of applications (5,800 in 2024). It also collects and reports on monitoring statistics e.g. equal opportunities data to inform and facilitate EDI work and graduate employment data for commissioners. A key remit of the charity is to further the profession of Clinical Psychology, and we seek to synergise with training community and NHS requirements, including supporting workforce planning.
I work clinically using CBT and specialise in treating OCD. I supervise postgraduate and undergraduate research and publish in the areas of Hoarding Disorder and CBT.
My highest impact paper was written with Naguib et al. (2009) which was a meta-analysis of the neuro-cognitive performance in children with type 1 diabetes. This has been a highly influential paper have been cited 214 times, received 2,619 views and 1,246 downloads.
However, the majority of my publications as with a great deal of applied psychology literature are practitioner focused and contribute to understanding clinical practice and developing theoretical/clinical models. Examples include a paper I published on subtypes of OCD (early and late onset) has been cited 58 times, discussed at practitioner and service-user conferences, and has contributed to practice and conversation as to whether there should be differences in the treatment of OCD for different subgroups of sufferers.
I have published three further papers investigating the presentation and treatment of anxiety disorders. A review on the assessment, development and treatment of childhood perfectionism has been cited 88 times and has fed into treatment work and new models of perfectionism. Two papers on the role of tolerance of uncertainty have been cited 55 times and contribute to models of understanding anxiety and treatment protocols. My research is very practitioner focused and aimed at improving models of understanding and therefore enhancing treatment.
I teach across all of the psychological profession programmes on my areas of specialism which are OCD and related disorders. I contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes in areas of professional clinical practice.
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Articles
- Tinlin RM, Beckwith H, Gregory JD, Lomax CL. What is underneath all that stuff? A Q-methodological exploration of profiles of beliefs and vulnerabilities in hoarding disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 2022, 50(5), 538-555.
- Hillman SR, Lomax CL, Khaleel N, Smith TR, Gregory JD. The roles of intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity and distress tolerance in hoarding disorder compared with OCD and healthy controls. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 2022, 50(4), 392-403.
- Pepperdine E, Lomax C, Freeston M. Disentangling Intolerance of Uncertainty and Threat Appraisal in Everyday Situations. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 2018, 57, 31-38.
- Cowdrey F, Lomax C, Gregory J, Barnard P. Could a unified theory of cognition and emotion further the transdiagnostic perspective? A critical analysis using Interacting Cognitive Subsystems as a case example. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology 2017, a4(3), 377-399.
- Chandler R, Butler C, Lomax C, Newman A. Burnout in Clinicians Working with Offenders with Personality Disorder. Journal of Forensic Practice 2016, 19(2), 139-150.
- Morris L, Lomax C. Assessment, development, and treatment of childhood perfectionism: a systematic review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2014, 19(4), 225-234.
- Lomax CL, Lam DH. Investigation into activation of dysfunctional schemas in euthymic bipolar disorder following positive mood induction. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 2011, 50(2), 115-126.
- Naguib JM, Kulinskaya E, Lomax CL, Garralda E. Neuro-cognitive Performance in Children with Type 1 Diabetes—A Meta-analysis. Journal of Paediatric Psychology 2009, 34(3), 271-282.
- Lomax CL, Lam DJ. Cognitive processing in bipolar disorder conceptualized using the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems (ICS) model. Psychological Medicine 2009, 39(5), 773-783.
- Lomax C, Oldfield V, Salkovskis P. Clinical and treatment comparisons between adults with early- and late-onset Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Behavior Research and Therapy 2009, 47(2), 99-104.
- Lomax C, Brown RG, Chaudhuri KR, Howard RJ. Neurobehavioural and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with neurodegenerative disease. Brain Impairment 2005, 6(3), 181-190.
- Lomax C, Brown RG, Howard RJ. Measuring disability in patients with neurodegenerative disease using the 'Yesterday Interview'. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 2004, 19, 1058-1064.
- Pal S, Lomax C, Pezzella FR, Forbes A, Chaudhuri KR. The relationship of Parkinsonian nocturnal disability and excessive daytime sleepiness in Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism & related disorders 2001, 7, S50.
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Reviews
- Watson P, Clarkin J, Lomax C. What are the predictors of family accommodation of obsessive-compulsive behaviours in adults and youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their relatives? A systematic review. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 2021, 31, 100681.
- Milne S, Lomax C, Freeston MH. A review of the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and threat appraisal in anxiety. Cognitive Behaviour Therapist 2019, 12, e38.