Cookies on this website
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Continue' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Contact information


daniel.freeman@psych.ox.ac.uk


+44 (0)1865 613109
Fax +44 (0)1865 793101

Daniel Freeman

PhD DClinPsy CPsychol FBPsS

Professor of Clinical Psychology

  • Lead, Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP)
  • NIHR Research Professor
  • Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • Co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer, Oxford VR
  • Fellow, University College Oxford
  • Fellow, British Psychological Society

Follow Daniel Freeman on Twitter

Research Group: Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP)

Oxford VR (University of Oxford spin-out company)

Google Scholar 

The purpose of my work is to make significant advances in the understanding and treatment of mental health disorders, particularly delusions and hallucinations. Drawing on a variety of approaches, including epidemiological studies, psychological experiments, clinical trials, and a ground-breaking virtual reality laboratory, I use the theoretical knowledge to develop carefully tested psychological treatments that will truly make a difference.

At the moment several randomised controlled treatment trials are in progress. This includes a test of a new targeted, personalised psychological treatment for persecutory delusions, called the Feeling Safe Programme. This is a translational treatment built upon advances by my research group in the theoretical understanding of paranoia. There are also a number of studies running that will lead to a greater understanding of the causes of psychotic experiences. The research is supported by the NHS National Institute of Health Research, UK Medical Research Council (MRC), and the Wellcome Trust.

I am co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Oxford VR, a spinout company from the University using automated immersive technologies to increase access to evidence-based psychological therapies. Oxford VR’s focus is on developing clinically validated, cost-effective, user-centred treatments for conditions with significant impact on patients, the health system and wider economy. Oxford VR builds on my research into the use of virtual reality to understand and treat psychological disorders.

I’m also committed to making knowledge of the best psychological research and treatments for mental health problems available to the general public. Therefore I’ve written a number of popular science books on mental health issues. The latest to appear is The Stressed Sex: Uncovering the Truth about Men, Women, and Mental Health, which sets out to answer a simple, but crucial, question: are rates of psychological disorder different for men and women? This important issue has been largely ignored in all the debates raging about gender differences.

Recent open access papers

Automated psychological therapy using immersive VR for treatment of fear of heights

Virtual reality in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of mental health disorders

The effects of improving sleep on mental health (OASIS)

Persecutory delusions: a cognitive perspective on understanding and treatment [pdf]

Virtual reality in the treatment of persecutory delusions

The concomitants of conspiracy concerns

Effects of cognitive behaviour therapy for worry on persecutory delusions (WIT)

Efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy for sleep improvement in patients with persistent delusions and hallucinations (BEST)

Targeting recovery in persistent persecutory delusions

Advances in understanding and treating persecutory delusions

How cannabis causes paranoia

Height, social comparison, and paranoia: an immersive virtual reality experimental study

Testing the effect on persecutory delusions of using CBT to reduce negative cognitions about the self

 

 

Key publications

Recent publications

More publications