Brynjar Halldorsson

The focus of my research work is to increase our understanding of what maintains anxiety disorders in children and then use that theroretical understanding to develop more effective interventions for children and their families. My clinical work has over the years focused on treating adults with anxiety disorders (such as obsessive compulsive disorder) and also young people presenting with anxiety problems using Cognitive Behavioural Interventions.

My NIHR fellowship is investigating the psychological mechanisms involved in maintaining social anxiety disorder in pre-adolescent children. This will inform Cognitive Behavioural Treatment developments.

I am an HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist and accredited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. I completed by PhD at the University of Bath where my research focused on exploring ‘excessive reassurance seeking’ within the context of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and testing out a new approach to treatment for this particular compulsive behaviour.

I have previously enjoyed working as a clinical psychologist at the Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) research clinic at the University of Reading. I have also experience in working within the Improving Access to Psychological Interventions (IAPT) programme as well as NHS specialist anxiety clinics. I regularly deliver teaching. For example, I am a visiting clinical lecturer at Reykjavik University in Iceland, and I previously worked as a clinical lecturer at the University of Bath.