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Psychology
UK
2026

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Psychology

D-Index
157
Citations
121601
World Ranking
56
National Ranking
13

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Psychology in United Kingdom Leader Award
  • 2005 - Otto Weininger Memorial Award, Canadian Psychological Association
  • 2002 - Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship, Canadian Psychological Association
  • Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, United Kingdom
  • Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, United Kingdom
  • Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, United Kingdom

Overview

Peter Fonagy is affiliated with University College London in the United Kingdom. Their research spans primarily within the field of Psychology, with a notable concentration on Clinical Psychology and related subfields such as Social Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, General Health Professions, and Psychiatry and Mental Health.

Fonagy's scholarly output includes numerous papers addressing a range of mental health and psychological topics. Notable recent publications include:

  • Brain charts for the human lifespan (2022) published in Nature
  • The Mentalizing Approach to Psychopathology: State of the Art and Future Directions (2020) published in Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
  • Understanding different trajectories of mental health across the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021) published in Psychological Medicine
  • Development and validation of a self-report measure of epistemic trust (2021) published in PLoS ONE
  • Borderline personality disorder: a comprehensive review of diagnosis and clinical presentation, etiology, treatment, and current controversies (2024) published in World Psychiatry

In addition to extensive journal publications, Fonagy has contributed to the academic literature through book authorship, notably "Cambridge Guide to Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT)" published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.

Frequent collaborators in Fonagy's research include Patrick Luyten, Chloë Campbell, Tobias Nolte, Raymond J. Dolan, and Edward T. Bullmore. These partnerships have yielded significant scientific output and reflect shared research interests.

Fonagy's work is often published in key venues such as PLoS ONE, Journal of Affective Disorders, bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Frontiers in Psychology, and European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

The primary topics covered in Fonagy's research emphasize:

  • Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
  • Mental Health Research Topics
  • Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum

Throughout their career, Fonagy has received multiple recognitions including the Otto Weininger Memorial Award and the Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship from the Canadian Psychological Association. They hold fellowship status at both the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Academy of Social Sciences in the United Kingdom.

Best Publications

  • Affect Regulation, Mentalization and the Development of the Self

    P Fonagy;G Gergely;EJ Jurist;M Target

  • What Works for Whom?: A Critical Review of Psychotherapy Research

    Anthony Roth;Peter Fonagy

  • Attachment and reflective function: their role in self-organization.

    Peter Fonagy;Mary Target

  • The capacity for understanding mental states - the reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment

    Peter Fonagy;Peter Fonagy;Miriam Steele;Howard Steele;George S. Moran

  • Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization Based Treatment

    Anthony Bateman;Peter Fonagy

  • Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis

    Peter Fonagy

  • Maternal representations of attachment during pregnancy predict the organization of infant-mother attachment at one year of age

    Peter Fonagy;Howard Steele;Miriam Steele

  • Effectiveness of partial hospitalization in the treatment of borderline personality disorder: a randomized controlled trial.

    Anthony Bateman;Peter Fonagy

  • The Relation of Attachment Status, Psychiatric Classification, and Response to Psychotherapy.

    Peter Fonagy;Tom Leigh;Miriam Steele;Howard Steele

  • Mentalizing in Clinical Practice

    Jon G. Allen;Peter Fonagy;Anthony W. Bateman

  • Attachment, the reflective self, and borderline states: The predictive specificity of the Adult Attachment Interview and pathological emotional development.

    Peter Fonagy;Miriam Steele;Howard Steele;Tom Leigh

  • The Emanuel Miller Memorial Lecture 1992 The Theory and Practice of Resilience

    Peter Fonagy;Miriam Steele;Howard Steele;Anna Higgitt

  • A developmental, mentalization-based approach to the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder.

    Peter Fonagy;Patrick Luyten

  • Thinking about thinking: some clinical and theoretical considerations in the treatment of a borderline patient.

    Peter Fonagy

  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in childhood depression: systematic review of published versus unpublished data.

    Craig J Whittington;Tim Kendall;Peter Fonagy;David Cottrell

  • Treatment of borderline personality disorder with psychoanalytically oriented partial hospitalization: an 18-month follow-up.

    Anthony Bateman;Peter Fonagy

  • Mentalization-based Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Practical Guide

    Anthony Bateman;Peter Fonagy

  • 8-Year Follow-Up of Patients Treated for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization-Based Treatment Versus Treatment as Usual

    Anthony Bateman;Peter Fonagy

  • Randomized controlled trial of outpatient mentalization-based treatment versus structured clinical management for borderline personality disorder

    Anthony Bateman;Peter Fonagy

  • Playing with reality: I. Theory of mind and the normal development of psychic reality

    Peter Fonagy;Mary Target

  • Attachment and reflective function: Their role in self-organization. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 679-700. Translated in:

    P Fonagy;M Target

Frequent Co-Authors

Mary Target
Mary Target University College London
Anthony Bateman
Anthony Bateman University College London
Patrick Luyten
Patrick Luyten University College London
Ian M. Goodyer
Ian M. Goodyer University of Cambridge
Carla Sharp
Carla Sharp University of Houston
Miriam Steele
Miriam Steele New School
Howard Steele
Howard Steele New School
Pasco Fearon
Pasco Fearon University College London
Jessica Deighton
Jessica Deighton University College London
Jakob Seidlitz
Jakob Seidlitz University of Pennsylvania

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