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FMA UK announces new member to Medical Advisory Board

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Category: Medical Professionals

Published on Monday, 08 September 2014 13:46

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Dr Raj Lal Sharma MD
Specialist in Hypnosis & Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy

Dr Raj Lal Sharma qualified in medicine from Charles University, Prague in 2003. After practising medicine, he pursued his main interests in Integrative and Complementary Medicine, with a focus on Hypnosis and Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy.

He was awarded an MSc in Hypnosis from the Psychology Department, University College London, and whilst training at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (RLHIM), he founded the first and only Medical and Clinical Hypnosis service within the National Health Service in 2007.

His MSc research lead to the development of a set of therapy CDs to help sufferers of Trigeminal Neuralgia, a chronic facial pain disorder, to manage their pain and reduce the psychological distress associated with this debilitating condition. Following his research, he donated the therapy CD’s to the charity The Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK, to enable the charity and sufferers across the UK to benefit from his work.

In 2008, he was awarded the Young Scientist Award from the European Association of Oral Medicine for his research project “Hypnosis in Burning Mouth Syndrome Patients.” He undertook further training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at Oxford, and was awarded the Oxford University Diploma in Cognitive Therapy. Following this, he helped to establish and develop the Cognitive and Behavioural based multidisciplinary Fibromyalgia Management Programme at the RLHIM, which is part of the FMS service.

He also runs the Hypnosis and Cognitive Therapy Unit at the RLHIM, University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where he treats a wide variety of medical, dental and psychological problems e.g. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic Pain, Anxiety Based Disorders, and Interventional Procedures.

In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he teaches medical students, doctors and dentists on various topics associated with Medicine, Hypnosis and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. He is an elected council member of the Royal Society of Medicine’s Hypnosis & Psychosomatic Section. His research interests lie in self-management approaches and psychological interventions for those living with chronic long-term medical conditions.