Seeing the Whole Person: Psychiatric Formulation in the 21st Century

Date and time Thu 10 Sep 2026 from 9:00am to 11 Sep 2026 at 5:30pm
Location Royal Society of Medicine
Organised by Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Psychiatric formulation sits at the heart of clinical practice. Despite this, there is no single forum where differential diagnosis, biopsychosocial and phenomenological dimensions of formulation are examined together with rigour. This two-day conference fills that gap, and will help delegates across all career stages gain intellectual tools and clinical frameworks to guide their thinking on the role of formulation in their clinical practice.

The recent initiation of a ‘DSM-6 project’, the rise of ‘precision psychiatry’ and the growing influence of ‘lived experience’ have all intensified debate about what psychiatric formulation is for and how it should be practised. Mental health services face unprecedented demand and user accountability. Clinicians need frameworks that go beyond the diagnostic label and beyond buzzwords to address phenomenology, causation, impairment, severity and complexity in individual cases. This conference arrives at a critical moment of professional reflection in the UK.

Why attend?

Hear from leading experts, including Dr Shubulade Smith, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor Nassir Ghaemi, Professor Gareth Owen, Professor Matthew Broome, Professor Argyris Stringaris and Professor Femi Oyebode
Explore formulation across biological, psychological, social, cultural and phenomenological perspectives
Take part in small-group breakout sessions applying formulation to real clinical cases across multiple specialities
Engage with current debates on diagnosis, professional identity and the future of psychiatric practice
Network with peers and speakers at the conference dinner following Day 1

Aims of the event

Provide a comprehensive understanding of psychiatric formulation across its scientific, clinical and humanistic foundations
Explore how formulation can be applied across a range of clinical contexts and specialities
Support participants to develop and refine formulation-based approaches in clinical practice

Learning outcomes
By attending this event, participants will be able to:

Develop biopsychosocial formulations that integrate neurobiological, psychological, social and cultural factors
Critically evaluate categorical and dimensional approaches to psychiatric diagnosis and their relationship to formulation
Apply formulation skills to specialist clinical areas, including psychosis, perinatal psychiatry and dementia
Integrate co-production, risk assessment and equity considerations into formulation
Reflect on professional identity and the future direction of psychiatric practice

Who should attend?
This conference is relevant to a wide range of professionals, including:

Psychiatrists
Consultants, speciality doctors and trainees
Clinical psychologists
Mental health professionals working in multidisciplinary teams
Professionals with an interest in the intersection of psychiatry and the humanities
Academics and researchers in psychiatry and mental health
Medical students and trainees with an interest in psychiatry

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Consultant / GP / SAS Doctors

Day 1	Day 2
£141.00 Day 1	£141.00 Day 2

Other HCPs

Day 1	Day 2
£84.00 Day 1	£84.00 Day 2

Resident Doctor

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£44.00 Day 1	£44.00 Day 2

Professor Ed Bullmore

Regius Professor of Psychiatry, King’s College London, Head, School of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and Honorary Fellow, Downing College, Cambridge

Speaker's biography

Professor Ed Bullmore studied medicine at the University of Oxford and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, before training as a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, and completing a PhD in brain MRI analysis at the Institute of Psychiatry. He moved to Cambridge as Professor of Psychiatry in 1999 and his research on brain networks and development of severe mental health disorders has since been highly cited. He was Head of the Department of Psychiatry, then Deputy Head of the School of Clinical Medicine in the University of Cambridge from 2014 to 2024. From 2005 to 2019, he worked half-time for GlaxoSmithKline, focusing on the links between inflammation and depression, as described in his first book, The Inflamed Mind. He has recently published another book, The Divided Mind, about the past, present and future of schizophrenia. He has been elected to the fellowships of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Since 2025, he has been the Regius Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College London.

Professor Femi Oyebode

President-elect RSM Psychiatry Section, Honorary Professor of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham

Speaker's biography

Femi Oyebode MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPsych, FRCPsych (honorary) studied medicine at the University of Ibadan, graduating with distinction in 1977. He trained as a psychiatrist in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and has been Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham since 1999. He has published over 225 original papers & 23 book chapters. His books include Mindreadings: literature and psychiatry, Madness at the Theatre, Sims’ Symptoms in the Mind- Textbook of Descriptive Psychopathology 4-7th editions (translated into Estonia, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, & Spanish), Psychopathology of Rare and Unusual Syndromes, & Doppelgänger: analysing doubles across antiquity, fiction, psychopathology, and neuroscience. He is a published poet, and his volumes include Wednesday is a Colour, Master of the Leopard Hunt, & Indigo, Camwood and Mahogany Red. He is joint presenter of the BBC Radio 4 Series, Is Psychiatry Working? He was Chief Examiner RCPsych 2002-2005. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2016 and the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (the highest honour of the RCPsych) in 2019. He was a judge of the Hippocrates Poetry Prize in 2015 & of the World Psychiatric Association Jean Delay Prize in 2023. He delivered the Osuntokun Memorial Lecture University of Ibadan in 2009, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ President’s Lecture in 2021, the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry Lecture in 2022, & the Tow Tiang, Seng Distinguished Lecture, Yeo Boon Kim Mind Centre Singapore in 2024. He has been Visiting Professor at University of Ibadan, University of Kuwait, University of Western Australia, & University of Auckland.

Professor Gareth Owen

Professor of Psychological Medicine, Ethics and Law, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Speaker's biography

He is author of the book “Psychiatry and Human Nature: Classic and Romantic Perspectives”, Cambridge University Press (2025) and 'What is formulation in psychiatry?' Psychological Medicine 2023 (Open Access). Other research has focused on decision-making capacity and related areas, spanning theoretical to practical issues as well as policy impact. He is a founding member and trustee of the Maudsley Philosophy Group Charity.

View the programme - Day 1 10 September 2026

8:30am

Registration, tea and coffee

9:15am

Opening address and conference aims

Dr Jacqueline Phillips Owen, RSM Psychiatry Section Council President and Professor Subodh Dave, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, Professor of Psychiatry University of Greater Manchester

Session 1 - History and Concepts of Formulation

9:30am

Three concepts of formulation

Professor Gareth Owen, Professor of Psychological Medicine, Ethics and Law, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Session 2 - Diagnosis, Classification and Formulation

10:10am

Diagnosis, Dimensions, Categories: What does formulation add?

Professor Nassir Ghaemi, Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of "The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model"

11:10am

Tea and coffee break

11:35am

Problems of over and underdiagnosis: A formulation response

Professor Argyris Stringaris, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University College London and Professor Isobel Heyman MBE, Honorary Professor, University College London Great Ormand Street Institute of Child Health

12:10pm

Open discussion

12:30pm

Lunch

Session 3 - Biopsychosocial formulations - causation across levels

1:35pm

Neurobiological Determinants of Mental Disorder

Professor Ed Bullmore FRS FMedSci, Regius Professor of Psychiatry and Head, School of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge

2:05pm

Cognitive and Behavioural Determinants in Formulation

Professor Paul Hutton, Professor of Mental Health, Edinburgh Napier University

2:35pm

Social Determinants of Mental Ill-Health: Application to Formulation

Professor Craig Morgan, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; Editor-in-Chief, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Co-Director of Enterprise and Social Research Council Centre for Society and Mental Health

3:00pm

Integrating the Levels: Brief Panel Exchange

Professor Ed Bullmore, Professor Paul Hutton and Professor Craig Morgan

3:30pm

Tea and coffee break

Session 4 (Part 1) - Formulation and meaning

4:05pm

Formulation and Phenomenology

Professor Matthew Broome, Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health, University of Birmingham

4:35pm

Formulation and Literature: Making Meaning through Narrative

Professor Femi Oyebode, President-elect RSM Psychiatry Section, Honorary Professor of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham

5:20pm

Summary and close of day 1

Dr Jacqueline Phillips Owen, President, Royal Society of Medicine Psychiatry Section, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Senior Lecturer, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London and Professor Subodh Dave, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, Professor of Psychiatry University of Greater Manchester.

View the programme - Day 2 11 September 2026

8:30am

Registration, tea and coffee

9:05am

Opening Day 2 — Themes and objectives

Session 4 (Part 2) - Formulation and meaning - continued

9:20am

Formulation and dynamic psychotherapy

Dr Jessica Yakeley, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy; Director, Portman Clinic; Director of Medical Education, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust; Fellow, British Psychoanalytic Society

9:50am

Cultural Formulation: Meaning Across Contexts

Professor Simon Dein, Consultant Psychiatrist, Visiting Professor in Anthropology Goldsmiths University of London, Senior lecturer, University College London and Honorary Clinical Professor, University of Durham

10:30am

Tea and coffee break

Session 5 - Breakout sessions - domain areas for formulation

11:00am

Breakout session 1 - 8 parallel streams (delegates select two)

A - Formulation in psychosis

Professor Femi Oyebode, President-elect Royal Society of Medicine Psychiatry Section, Honorary Professor of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham and Dr Stefania Bonaccorso, Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist, North London NHS Foundation Trust

B - Perinatal formulation

Dr Livia Martucci, Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist and Clinical Lead for Perinatal Services; Chair, Faculty of Perinatal Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

C - Formulation in dementia

Dr Ruth Cairns, Consultant Psychiatrist and Training Programme Director for Old Age Psychiatry, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Professor Gareth Owen

D - Personality disorder and formulation

Dr Jonathan Hurlow, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Flavio Di Leone, Senior Consultant in Psychiatry, Psychotherapist, and head of section at the Department of Affective Disorders, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Göteborgs universitet, Sweden

E - Neurodevelopmental disorder and formulation

F - Eating disorders and formulation

Dr Nikola Kern, Consultant Psychiatrist, Eating Disorders Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Fellow, British Psychoanalytical Society

G - Mood disorders and formulation

Professor Roland Zah, Professor of Mood Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Professor Nassir Ghaemi, Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of "The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model"

11:50am

Breakout session 2 - 8 parallel streams

A - Formulation in psychosis

B - Perinatal formulation

C - Formulation in dementia

D - Personality disorder and formulation

E - Neurodevelopmental disorder and formulation

F - Eating disorders and formulation

G - Mood disorders

12:40pm

Lunch

Session 6 - Special topics in formulation

1:50pm

Formulation of violence and suicide risk

Dr Shubulade Smith, Past-President, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Clinical Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Clinical and Strategic Director, National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health

2:35pm

Child and Adolescent Formulation

Professor Dasha Nicholls, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Acting Head, Division of Psychiatry, Imperial College London, National Specialist Adviser on Eating Disorders, NHS England

3:05pm

Formulation in older adults

Professor Tom Dening, Professor of Dementia Research, University of Nottingham, Honorary Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

3:30pm

Co-production of formulation with patients and carers

Speaker to be confirmed

3:50pm

Tea and coffee break

Session 7 - Professional identity, education and research

4:10pm

Education and research - panel discussion

4:50pm

Vote of thanks and closing remarks

Professor Femi Oyebode

Registrations will close on 9 September 2026 at 8:00 am (GMT). Late registrations will not be accepted.

The agenda is subject to change at any time

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