Dr Kate Hamilton-West

Dr Kate Hamilton-West, PhD., C.Psychol., AFBPsS

Dr Kate Hamilton-West is a Chartered Psychologist and Doctor of Health Psychology. Her doctoral thesis focused on coping with stress and illness (with a particular focus on the chronic condition ankylosing spondylitis).

Kate is a member of the British Psychological Society and European Health Psychology Society. She is an accredited supervisor for health psychologists in training and is Chair of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Health Psychology Network. She teaches health psychology at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Kate is an active researcher and has held several grants as Principal Investigator or Co-investigator – recent projects include an evaluation of concordance therapy for older people with type II diabetes; evaluation of emotional disclosure interventions with ankylosing spondylitis patients and with trauma survivors and qualitative analysis of patient experiences of chronic illness. Kate's current research focuses on postural care for children with physical disabilities.

Kate has published widely in medical journals and psychology journals (click here for recent publications) and has given several invited talks including talks to patient support groups (National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society and Diabetes UK), postgraduate medical education seminar series (Maidstone Hospital and QEQM Hospital, Margate) and the psychology department seminar series, Royal Holloway University of London. Kate has presented at the British Psychological Society Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference, the European Health Psychology Conference and the Stress and Anxiety Research Society Conference. She has recently been awarded the title 'Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society' (AFBPsS). This title is awarded by the BPS as 'a mark of experience, competence and reputation of psychological knowledge through the field'.

Kate has chosen to specialise in two main areas of psychology. The first relates to the psychology of stress – why we experience stress, how stress impacts on health and wellbeing, what we can do to tackle stress. The second relates to the psychological implications of living with chronic illness – what it means to be diagnosed with a chronic illness, how illness symptoms and treatment regimes impact on work, leisure, relationships and mood, how psychological therapies can help to reduce impacts of illness on quality of life.

Dr Hamilton-West has produced an ebook containing information about stress and its implications for health, methods you can use to tackle stress and links to further resources. To claim your free copy, please click the link at the top of this page.