David Murphy

Such a privilege to be part of a @plymuni.bsky.social
inter-professional learning event yesterday which brought together students from across different health programmes to work together with experts by experience with a range of physical & mental health issues, with help from Well Connected SW

After many years arguing that professional accreditation in psychology should be only doctoral level, the American Psychological Association has announced it will begin accrediting masters-level professionals, although they won't be able to use the title "Psychologist" www.apa.org/education-ca...

I have just published a new, updated version of my YouTube video "Deciding where to apply for UK Clinical Psychology Training". I hope its helpful.
▶️ youtu.be/tOBqAPQHcYs

The Alternative Handbook 2025-2026 | BPS Trainee perspectives on clinical psychology courses

The 2026 Entry Clinical Psychology Training Alternative Handbook has been published today. It contains in-depth perspectives from almost 1,500 current trainees who participated. It really is an invaluable resource for applicants & courses.https://www.bps.org.uk/dcp-alternative-handbook

What A-level results day teaches us about decision making | BPS Gordon West, Head of Futures at Stowe School and first year psychology student.

A-level results day can be incredibly stressful if things don't go to plan. This helpful article in @psychmag.bsky.social offers help to avoid some decision making pitfalls.
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

Just back from my annual trip up to Edinburgh for the start of the festivals. My Fringe theatre recommendations are Ordinary Decent Criminal, Miles, & Paldem, all at Summerhall. Make it Happen at EIF is great if you can get tix. For some great music, I highly recommend Women in Rock www.edfringe.com

Practitioner psychologists became regulated by The HCPC in July 2009. Since then the number of registered psychologists has increased every year and, at the end of 2024, crossed the 30,000 mark for the first time (~80% increase in 15 years) making it one of the fastest-growing UK health professions🚀

On this day 20 years ago, 52 Londoners, of 18 different nationalities, were killed in 7/7 bombings. Nearly 800 more were injured, many of whom continue to live with the physical & psychological consequences of that day. Remembering them all and their families today🌺.

Excited to see a preview of the new BBC series "Reunion" this eve. The bilingual spoken English/BSL series, written by deaf writer William Mager, had a mixed deaf/hearing crew, a cast of brilliant deaf & hearing actors &, above all, is a gripping story.
📺 Monday 7th 9pm
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Excited to see a preview of the new BBC series "Reunion" this eve. The bilingual spoken English/BSL series, written by deaf writer William Mager, had a mixed deaf/hearing crew, a cast of brilliant deaf & hearing actors &, above all, is a gripping story.
📺 Monday 7th 9pm
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Such a privilege to attend a live recording of Michelle Obama
& her brother Craig Robinson's new podcast IMO here at SXSW. Really interesting, & timely, discussion about fostering hope in challenging times with Yale Professor of Psychology, Laurie Santos. I highly recommend subscribing imopod.com

Opinion | Just when you thought it hit rock bottom... There’s yet another level to mine.

Very sad but true. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

However, what the study did show was that smartphone use across all students, WAS associated with higher anxiety & depression + lower attainment. However, that wasnt mentioned in the press release. What this important area needs is quality longitudinal, ideally RCT, studies not headline chasing. 5/5

Most schools had only introduced their restrictions in the past 2 years, & half the participants were in year 8 so had only been at secondary school for a year anyway. No one would expect there to be significant differences between schools in wellbeing & attainment (esp measured so crudely). 4/5

We might expect lower use to be associated with higher social interaction & maybe less bullying at breaks, but these wasn't measured at all. The main measures were wellbeing (EWBS) & a yes/no response from the form teacher about whether they were performing "to expected grade" in Maths & English 3/5

It compared 20 schools which had restrictive policies with 10 schools that were more permissive. Students in the former used smartphones on average for 10 mins during the school day vs 1 hr in the latter. Outside of school hours there was no sig. difference i.e. there was no compensation effect. 2/5

School phone bans DON'T work, scientists say For parents worried about their teens' smartphone use, banning phones in schools may seem like an obvious solution. But a study suggests that school phone bans don't produce any positive effects.

This study from Birmingham Uni has been widely covered in the legacy media today. However, the headlines are completely unfounded on the basis of the study. In fact, the study wasnt a controlled trial but a cross sectional comparsion study. 1/5 www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

Healthcare support workers arent registered so there isnt an equivalent source of data but the issue with nurses isn't lack of jobs, there is a huge current vacancy rate, or lack of training places. The issue is recruitment into training, and retention in the profession even through training.

The graph below shows the change in the number of other health professions over the past 15 years for comparison. Practitioner psychologists were the 3rd fastest-growing group. Paramedics grew fastest, but it's concerning there are fewer podiatrists, & only 14% more nurses, today than 15 years ago.

Practitioner psychologists became regulated by The HCPC in July 2009. Since then the number of registered psychologists has increased every year and, at the end of 2024, crossed the 30,000 mark for the first time (~80% increase in 15 years) making it one of the fastest-growing UK health professions🚀

YouTube video by Crowds & Identities Why crowd behaviour matters - for psychology and society

'Why crowd behaviour matters - for psychology and society'

Recording of my Professorial Lecture. Please share.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pBZ...

You werent the first or the last to do that! All good here thanks, hope things are going well for you down there. So pleased to learn that you're involved in clinical psychology training now, I'm sure you are an inspiring teacher ☺️

I know that feeling well!! Although, if the rest of the UniSC team are as brilliant as you, then I cant imagine any of them turning down their offer!

I wrote an article about my dad's death, and how it affected my views on assisted dying, published in the Times

Free version here

Published today (Open Access) Dr Emily Shipwright's powerful study conducted at Plymouth University on the long-term adverse effects after ECT. In the words of one participant “The Procedure Went Well, but You’ve Killed the Patient” journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Dr Imogen Campbell pictured with David Murphy at her graduation from The University of Plymouth on 19th November 2024

Very proud to be coauthor of a paper from Dr Imogen Campbell's Clinical Psychology Doctoral research @PlymUni on Equine-Assisted Therapy for military veterans, published today in the Journal of Veterans Studies. Veterans described very positive outcomes. journal-veterans-studies.org/articles/10....

YouTube video by David Murphy Deciding where to apply

New video just out in our series on applying for Clinical Psychology training in the UK, on deciding where to apply. Hope its useful for anyone applying, apologies its a bit late in the cycle for 2025 entry, I started it & then was unwell, hence a few imperfections!
▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzQb...

Photos of over 200 psychologists from around the world who contributed to the 2nd Edition of "The Handbook of International Psychology"

Its a real privilege to be among more than 200 psychologists from 103 countries who contributed to the 2nd Ed. of the Handbook of International Psychology. The diversity of psychology across the world has always fascinated me & this book captures it its full glory🌍😊
www.routledge.com/The-Handbook...

My former colleague at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, Lord Alderdice, who has considerable experience of intractable conflicts, gave an extremely wise speech in the House of Lords this week, "There is no military solution in Israel/Gaza". I do recommend reading▶️ lordalderdice.com/2023/10/25/t...

Graph showing percentage of practitioner psychologists who identify as being Black, Asian, or from an other minority ethnic group. Counselling 16.27%, Health 10.69%, Educational 9.34%, Clinical 8.26%, Occuaptional 7.69%, Forensic 7.12%, Sport & Exercise 2.74%

Ethnicity data on practitioner psychologists published recently by the HCPC, shows how far the profession has to go to be reflective of the population in all domains, other than Counselling Psych. Although Sport & Ex. Psych has the lowest gender disparity it's the least diverse in terms of ethnicity