Peter Panayi – Assistant Psychologist

 Peter Panayi is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at The University of Manchester. His research focuses on the impact of complex trauma (difficult life experiences that are prolonged or repeated) among people with psychosis. He is based within the Complex Trauma & Resilience Research Unit. Alongside his PhD, Peter is supporting the STAR Trial at PRU with participant recruitment and assessments, and training and supervising research assistants to deliver additional STAR-related studies (e.g., mobile app study, MRI study). Peter also teaches on the BSc Psychology programme at the University of Manchester.

Peter Panayi completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology (with clinical psychology) at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he obtained a first-class honours, and his academic interest in psychosis grew. His undergraduate thesis was on the relationships between loneliness, existential isolation and trait-proneness to psychosis (schizotypy). Peter then went onto complete his master’s degree in Early Intervention in Psychosis at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. The COVID-19 pandemic hit during Peter’s master’s degree, which he completed remotely. His thesis was comparing the effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for children with autism delivered face-to-face and online.

Throughout his undergraduate and postgraduate degree, Peter has worked in community and inpatient mental health services, both within and outside the NHS. This includes setting up and running a social prescription service for people with anxiety and depression in the community with Mind, the mental health charity. Peter has also volunteered as an assistant psychologist in a musculoskeletal service delivering group CBT for people with chronic pain.

Peter enjoys writing in his spare time. He has written a Blog Post about his trip to an international CBT conference in Belfast in 2021, and in 2020 published an Online article about controversial psychotherapies. Peter also enjoys playing video games, listening to music and getting active in his local community.