Welcome to the website of

mheap photo mheap text

BSc MSc MSc PhD

CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST

HUMANIST

SKEPTIC

My email address is mheap712@gmail.com.
My blog is at http://mheap.blogspot.co.uk/.
I am also on Twitter and Facebook.

PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS AND SPECIALITIES

I am a clinical and a forensic psychologist. I started out in clinical psychology in 1974. Before then, I worked (from 1970) as a research psychologist in a hospital for patients with brain damage. I have also held part-time teaching and lecturing posts at universities and am now an Honorary Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sheffield. In 2001 I qualified in forensic psychology and worked half-time as a consultant and eventually lead psychologist for over 10 years in a medium secure hospital. I am now retired.

My professional work involved the following areas of knowledge and expertise:

HUMANISM

I have undertaken Humanist UK's training in religious pastoral care and am a volunteer in the chaplaincies at a university, a psychiatric inpatients' unit, and a day centre for people with life-limiting illnesses. I am able to give presentations on humanism to other groups. I have also undertaken the Schools Speaker training course with Humanists UK and give talks and lessons on humanism to religious education classes in schools.

SKEPTICISM

In 1997 some colleagues and I set up the Association for Skeptical Enquiry and I continue to be its main organiser. ASKE is a society for people from all walks of life who wish to promote rational thinking and enquiry, particularly concerning unusual phenomena, and who are opposed to the proliferation and misuse of irrational and unscientific ideas and practices. I am editor of ASKE's quarterly magazine The Skeptical Intelligencer. To find out more about ASKE, visit our website at http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/. If you share our ideas and concerns why not join for just £10 a year?

I am co-founder and one of the organisers of Sheffield Skeptics in the Pub. This group holds monthly meetings at which an invited speaker gives a presentation on his or her area of expertise of skeptical interest

I enjoy giving talks to schools and other institutions and groups on my work and on skepticism, one common theme being 'Science and the Paranormal'.

Let me Help you Create your own Personal Philosophy

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I manage a website that aims to help people develop their own personal philosophy by thinking about the big meaning-of-life questions, such as how the world, including human life, came about; what is our ultimate destiny; whether there's a purpose to it all; what being 'a good person' means to you; what makes the world 'a good place'; and so on. The website is called 'My Personal Philosophy' because it's all about what you yourself think and believe, although this may be based on existing religious and philosophical teachings. It is hoped that it will help you remain aware of and committed to those ideals and principles which are important to you, especially when meeting the ups and downs of everyday life, conflicts, uncertainty, moral and ethical challenges, and so on. I welcome comments, suggestions for improvements, and ideas for taking this further.

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THE NATURE OF HYPNOSIS

Most information about hypnosis that you read in books and on the internet and that is portrayed in the media is unreliable and misleading. I would not even recommend the entries in Wikipedia, which are of an indifferent quality. I have penned an account of hypnosis on this website in which I have tried to summarise what scientific enquiry into the subject is now telling us. I update this periodically to accommodate new findings and theorising.

THE TYRANNY OF THE PROFESSIONS

Is it reasonable to speak of a modern 'tyranny', one that is having a malign effect on our society, and which we may call 'the tyranny of the professions'? My current pipedream is to have a book published with that title. In fact, I seriously invite any reader who feels an immediate and strong affinity to this title to consider joining me in my enterprise. Click on the title above for my efforts so far.

WRITING PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORTS FOR THE COURTS AND OTHER AGENCIES

These are my reflections on 48 years of writing psychological reports, intially on patients within the health service and latterly on other individuals and cases - around 1,000 in all - for the civil and criminal courts and other agencies. Based on this experience and reading the reports of other psychologists I highlight what I consider to be good and not-so-good practice. My ideas, opinions and conclusions are open to criticism and correction and I welcome this.

LIST OF ALL OTHER ARTICLES ON THIS WEBSITE

Click on the title for a full list of papers accessible on this website, including articles on skepticism, alternative medicine and medicine in general, hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, psychiatry, and clinical psychology.

UNIVERSAL AWARENESS: A THEORY OF THE SOUL

'Why was I born the person I am?' 'If the person I am had never been born, would I have been born as someone else?' 'What happens to me when I die?' 'Have I lived before?' In 2011 I published a book with the above title which takes the reader on a journey in search of answers to these and other profound questions about human existence. By means of a series of philosophical questions, logical puzzles and thought experiments, and with strict adherence to scientific knowledge, the reader is guided to clear answers to these questions. In 2022 I published a second edition of the book with some extensive revisions. Click on the above title for further details and a summary of the theory.