Is DEMENTIA a Bigger Word than Cancer?

Dr Ross Colquhoun is a Clinical Health Psychologist working in private clinical practice since 1996. Having had a long-term professional interest in the impact of the environment and diseases on the brain he developed the concept of on-line screening for people who are concerned about their cognitive performance. This also arose from the knowledge that there is a three year delay between onset and diagnosis of dementia and that early intervention can have a significant impact on progress of the disease, quality of life and functioning. As well as a Masters Degree in Neuroscience he has also written a number of papers on the subject and presented these to peer groups: “Neurological Basis of Pain” (2009) College of Health Psychology Seminar, Sydney; “Neural Mechanisms of Addiction and Treatment Implications”, (2009) ASSBI Brain Injury Conference, Sydney and (2008) CAPA Conference, Sydney; “Neural Mechanisms of Addiction” (2008) Stapleford Conference, Athens, Greece and (2008) APSAD Conference, Aukland NZ; “Assessing Whole Person Impairment using the PIRS for WorkCover”, (2006) Law Society of NSW; “Interpretation of the Cognitive Performance Profile and Neuropsychological Report Writing” (2005) APS Workshop, Sydney and (2004) 6th Annual Conference of International Society of Neural Research (ISNR), Sydney; “Assessment of Whole Person Impairment” (2004) Aust. Personal Injury Lawyers Conference, Sydney and (2004) Aust. College of Clinical Psychologists Annual Conference, Sydney; “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse” (2002) PPL, Substance Abuse, Trauma and Depression Conference.

He also specialises in the treatment of addictions and is an acknowledged world leader in the Neuroscience of Addiction and the use of naltrexone and other pharmacotherapies in the treatment of substance dependency, especially opioid dependency. He is principally responsible for the psychological assessment and treatment planning for all substance dependent patients entering the program, which has a focus on concurrent treatment of co-morbid conditions. The practice employs four other psychologists/ psychotherapists and two intern psychologist as well as an administrator and practice manager and nurses and doctors part-time.

He has had a book published in 2010 “The Use of Naltrexone in the Treatment of Opiate Dependence”, (Lambert Academic, Germany) and a number of papers published and presented papers at international conferences, concerning drug and alcohol issues including “A Comparison of Oral and Implant Naltrexone Outcomes at 12 Months” in the Journal of Opioid Management, Nov/Dec 2005. He has also taught at Australian College of Applied Psychology, Jansen/Newman Institute, Australian College for Counselling in Addictions and Wollongong University.