Dr Abu Abraham

Dr Abraham has over 20 years’ experience in the assessment and treatment of mental illness and psychological problems. He has made significant contributions to education and training in the NHS for which he was awarded at a national level, receiving the Trainer of the Year, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2014). He has also been involved in several service improvement projects and audits within the NHS and won the Best Poster prize at the Royal College of Psychiatrist Eastern Division conference in 2013. Dr Abraham also supervised several programmes such as the chief resident programme and quality improvement fellows. For this work his supervisee won the Trainee Leader of the year award in 2015 in the Eastern Region.

His diverse roles over the years include Consultant Psychiatrist, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust ( EPUT), as well as a variety of senior education and lecturer positions.

Training

Dr Abraham is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (FRCPsych) a mark of distinction and recognition of contribution to psychiatry.

He has Dual Certificate of Completion of training (CCT) in General Adult Psychiatry and also in Addictions Psychiatry in the UK. He is on the Specialist register of the General Medical Council. Following basic medical Qualification (MBBS) he completed a post graduate qualification in psychiatry (MD). He then secured a Diploma in Clinical Psychiatry in Leeds and a Postgraduate qualification in Health and Social care education.

Research interests

• Principal Investigator. TACK Study.
• Principal Investigator for THE INTEGRATED BIPOLAR PARENTING INTERVENTION STUDY. MRC funded, Multi-centre RCT comparing the web-based parenting intervention for parents with bipolar disorder on their symptoms, parenting style and children's behaviour compared with treatment as usual.
• Principal Investigator: VIEWPOINT SURVEY (NIHR 3787): Funded by the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign, run by the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, and adopted by the Mental Health Research Network. It aims to document the stigma and discrimination experiences of 1000 mental health service users across England.
• Principal Investigator: CIRCLE (NIHR 11836): A multi-centre randomised controlled trial of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a contingency management intervention for reduction of cannabis use and of relapse in early psychosis. This will evaluate whether contingency management, reinforcing abstinence with positive incentives in the form of voucher rewards, is clinically and cost effective in increasing time to relapse in a cohort with early psychosis.
• DOCTORAL RESEARCH SUPERVSION: Supervised a Post graduate Doctor in Psychiatry on her thesis dissertation, ‘Binge eating disorder and personality traits’ towards her MD (Doctor of Medicine in Psychiatry) at the University of Cairo, Egypt.
• THESIS: Depressive disorders, Physical and Psychiatric disability and Quality of life in Chronic renal failure patients on dialysis. 2003, Calicut University, India.
• Numerous other research and audits

Publications

• Abraham, A. Social constructivism in teaching small groups. Journal of Advances in Medical Education and Research. 2017
• Abu Abraham and Jason Luty. Testing for illicit drug use in mental health services. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2010) 16: 369-379
• Abu Abraham, Joby M. Easow, Palanisamy Ravichandren, Salman Mushtaq, Linda Butterworth, and Jason Luty Effectiveness and confusion of the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign. The Psychiatrist . June 2010 34:230-233 
• Asamoah G, Varughese SJ, Mushtaq S, Butterworth L, Abraham A and Luty J. A randomised trial of ethnicity and stigmatised attitudes towards Learning Disability and Alcoholism. Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care. Volume 2 Issue 2 July 2009. 11-19
• Rao H, Mahadevappa H, Pillay P, Sessay M., Abraham A. & Luty J. A study of stigmatized attitudes towards people with mental health problems among health professionals. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 2009; 16, 279–284
• Kumar P.N.S., Abraham A. Thomas B & Kumar K. (2005). Folie a deux. A Case report and review of literature. Indian Journal of Psychiatry.2005; 47:164-166
• Kumar P.N.S., Abraham A, Thomas B & Kunhikoyamu A.M. (2003). A comparative study of serum lipid profile of suicide attempters versus normal age, sex and BMI matched controls. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2003; 26(1), 33-37
• Kumar P.N.S., Abraham A & Kunhikoyamu, A.M. (2002). Age and sex related analysis of psycho-socio-demographic characteristics of suicide attempters. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2002; 25(1), 20-24.

Patient feedback

Dr Abrahams has received positive feedback from a number of previous patients:

• “Listened very well. Put me at ease quickly and confidently. Explained things in language I could understand.”
• “Made an appointment for a young relative who has suffered for most of her life without knowing what was wrong, GPs had prescribed anti depressants as matter of course. Dr Abraham was fantastic, diagnosis given at the end of the session. The consultation was handled gently, naturally and thoroughly. The relief of finally knowing what we are dealing was palpable. This young lady is happy as she can now seek the right treatment without the need for medication. Worth every single penny.”
• “Dr Abraham has been very attentive to me and has helped me considerably. I totally trust his knowledge and professionalism.”
• “I arranged an urgent appointment for my daughter who has long term mental health problems. Dr Abraham was able to see her quickly and was very thorough and empathetic during her initial assessment. He was able to make a diagnosis and to give my daughter the help and assistance she required in moving forward. My wife and I were very impressed with a thoroughly professional and accessible service. In addition, my daughter was also happy with her care and the opportunity to see Dr Abraham again with follow up appointments should she require them.”
• “I have recently visited Dr Abrahams for a private assessment. He arranged to see me very quickly and was reassuring even from our initial phone call. Dr Abrahams was easy to talk to, very understanding and made me feel at ease during what you would assume should be a difficult appointment. I got a diagnoses and am pleased with the advice given in respect of treatment going forward. Thank you!”
• “I’ve just seen this doctor so thoughts are fresh. Firstly and most importantly Dr Abraham listens. Even though I totally changed the topic of conversation from the purpose of our meeting he sat attentively and simply took notes, then asked some probing questions before piecing it all together and asking if I had any further things to say or ask. Even though these kind of meetings aren’t fun, I left feeling happy, like someone had taken notice of me and had given the right response, not what I just wanted to hear or what was the easiest to say. Extremely impressed.”

Languages

• English
• Tamil
• Malayalam
• Hindi