Pat Bracken, MD, is currently Clinical Director of the Mental Health Service in West Cork, Ireland. He trained in medicine and psychiatry in Ireland and the UK. In the 1980s he worked for 3 years with victims of torture and violence in Uganda, East Africa. This experience had a profound effect on his understanding of mental health problems and the nature of healing. He has also worked for shorter periods in other developing countries in Africa and Asia.
Along the way he took the time to train in philosophy, and in his writing he has tried to bring philosophical insights to bear on some of the problems we face in the area of mental health. He was Professor of Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health at the University of Central Lancashire in the years 2006-2008.
Pat was one of the founders of the UK Critical Psychiatry Network.
He was co-editor of the book Rethinking the Trauma of War with Dr. Celia Petty, published in 1998. His own book Trauma: Culture, Meaning and Philosophy was published in 2002. With Prof. Phil Thomas, he published the book Postpsychiatry: A New Direction for Mental Health in 2005.
