Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones is a medical doctor and neuroscience researcher working as Consultant psychiatrist in Addictions.
She is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College ( Division of Neurosciences) and is the current co-recipient of a Medical Research Council grant in the area of decision-making and impulsivity.
She is the Founder and Director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic based in Soho, London. The clinic is the first and only NHS multidisciplinary treatment centre in the UK for the treatment of problem gamblers, it has been inundated by hundreds of referrals since its opening in 2008 and holds the only extensive national database on pathological gambling.
Henrietta also runs the UK Problem Gambling Research Consortium, a group of 12 researchers from Imperial, Cambridge, Oxford and UCL collaborating on different research projects exploring the neurobiology of pathological gambling.
Henrietta belongs to the ICCAM (Imperial, Cambridge, Manchester) neuroscience research group funded by the Medical Resarch Council to develop effective treatment for all addictions.
Prior to founding the National Problem Gambling Clinic Henrietta ran for many years the inpatient NHS detoxification services for alcohol and drugs in central London (CNWL NHS Foundation Trust) as well as leading the Soho Rapid Access Clinic, treating the homeless drug addicts of central London.
Much of her time is spent lecturing at conferences and teaching medical postgraduate students, psychologists, mental health professionals, magistrates, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and others about behavioural addictions, internet addiction disorder, problem gambling,the neurobiology of addiction, decision-making and risk, adolescent brains and impulsivity, . She is regularly invited to lecture abroad and speak at conferences, she has been interviewed extensively both by the press and radio as well as tv.
She is the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ spokesperson on Behavioural Addictions and Problem Gambling as well as being a current elected member of the Executive Committee Addictions Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
She held the post of elected Finance Officer for the Addictions Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists for the period 2006-2010.
Henrietta is a member of the Government’s Responsible Gambling Strategy Board since 2009 advising on prevention, research, treatment and education. She was on the Prevention Panel from 2009 to 2012 and is now a member of the Board’s Research Panel from 2012.
Having completed her medical degree and her psychiatric training she spent some years with Imperial College researching the effects of alcohol on the brain. She was awarded an MD for her work, her doctorate thesis is on Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction in Alcohol dependency. Decision-making is one of her areas of interest in neuroscience.
One of her roles on the Royal college executive committee is to be the link person to the Faculty of occupational Medicine. She has collaborated with the Faculty on guidelines for managing substance misuse in the workplace and has been a member of a separate working group advising occupational physicians on alcohol misuse at work. She is advisor to London Underground on alcohol and drugs misuse and works closely with their Alcohol and Drug assessment unit in London, carrying out assessments on their staff.
In her charity work she is a Trustee of Sporting Chance Clinic, a high profile addiction charity which helps top sportsmen and women in the UK in their fight against drugs, alcohol and gambling.
In 2012 she started Gambling Concern, a charity set up to fundraise for the treatment of problem gamblers in the UK, raise the profile of problem gambling, disseminate high quality evidence-based research in the field and highlight the importance of preventative measures in protecting future generations.
Awards and Bursaries
November 13th 2010 : Henrietta was one of The Times Best Doctors in Britain.
2006 Specialist Clinical Addiction Network Travel Award - Visited heroin users injectable services in Vancouver, Canada and published an article ' Harm reduction Canadian Style' .(see above)
2003 Imperial College Hallinan Young Researcher Award. Presented research abstract at Research Society on Alcohol annual meeting, Florida.
2002 Research Fellowship Imperial: 6 months funding to study decision-making in substance misuse. Published results in Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Societies and Colleges
Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Elected Member to its Addictions Faculty Executive Committee.
Member of the Society for the Study of Addiction.
Member of the Society for Judgement and Decision-Making.
Grant Collaborations:
2011-2016 MRC project grant ' Neurotransmitters in opiate and alcohol addiction (NOAA). Co-investigators: A Lingford-Hughes, H Bowden-Jones, L.Clark, PI D.Nutt. Grant value £ 1,600,000.
2011-2014 MRC project grant ‘Neural basis of gambling cognitions: relevance for vulnerability and treatment of gambling addiction’. Grant value: £626,758. Co-investigators: H Bowden-Jones, A Lingford-Hughes, M Aitken, R Rogers. PI, L.Clark.
2009-2011 MRC project grant ‘Predicting relapse in treatment-seeking pathological gamblers using impulsivity and compulsivity assays’. Grant value £214,402. Co-investigators: H Bowden-Jones, U Muller. PI,L.Clark.
2010-2012 Collaboration with Prof Robert Rogers, Oxford University: Prevalence of Problem gambling pathology, mental health issues and substance misuse among Football Association and Premiere League footballers across the UK. Funding from PFA.
2010-2011 Collaboration with Dr Tim Weaver and Dr Julie Trebilcock Imperial College : Treatment Outcomes at the National Problem Gambling Clinic: The first two years. Funding from Imperial College.
Publications:
Affective forecasting in problem gamblers.
Willmer -Reed J, Smith N, Bowden-Jones H, MacLeod A K
International Gambling Studies March 2012.
doi: 10.1080/14459795.2012.671841
Chapter : Drugs and Alcohol misuse in the Workplace.
Authors: Bowden-Jones H, Brown D.
in 'Fitness For Work: The Medical Aspects', Fifth Edition
Edited by Keith T. Palmer, Ian Brown, and John Hobson
Oxford University Press
ISBN 9780199643240 In press. Publication date Jan 2013.
Authors: Temcheff, C., Bowden-Jones, H., & Derevensky, J.
A patient's Journey: Gambling addiction
British Medical Journal (BMJ) Dec 2011; 343 do7789
Authors: patient, Bowden-Jones H, George S.
Impulsivity and Cognitive Distortions in pathological gamblers attending the UK National Problem Gambling Clinic: A preliminary report.
Psychological Medicine Dec 2011 41 pp 2625-2635
Authors: Michalczuc R, Bowden-Jones H, Verdejo-Garcia A, Clark L.
Problem Gambling Leaflet for Royal College of Psychiatrist: Updated
Royal College of Psychiatrists Public Education Editorial Board.
Authors: Bowden-Jones H, George. S. 2011
Pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease-a review of the literature
Movement Disorders, September 2011, vol./is. 26/11(1976-1984), 0885-3185;1531-8257 (September 2011)
Authors: Djamshidian A., Cardoso F., Grosset D., Bowden-Jones H., Lees A.J.
Abstract: The prevalence of pathological gambling is 3.4% to 6% in treated Parkinson's disease, which is higher than the background population rate. In this review we discuss current evidence to indicate that dopamine agonists are much more likely to trigger this behavior than either L-dopa or selective monoamine oxidase B inhibitor monotherapy. New insights from recent behavioral and functional imaging studies and possible treatment approaches are also covered. A PubMed literature search using the terms "gambling" and "Parkinson's disease," "impulse control disorder," "impulsive compulsive behaviour," "dopamine agonist," of individual dopamine agonists, and of ongoing drug trials, using, was carried out for the period up to January 2011. 2011 Movement Disorder Society.
Pathological gambling and the treatment of psychosis with aripiprazole: Case reports
British Journal of Psychiatry, August 2011, vol./is. 199/2(158-159), 0007-1250;1472-1465 (August 2011)
Authors: Smith N., Kitchenham N., Bowden-Jones H.
Abstract: This paper details three case reports that suggest that pathological gambling activity may have been adversely modified following treatment for psychosis with the antipsychotic aripiprazole. These reports are discussed in the context of previous observations of the potential impact of aripiprazole on impulse control and the implications such observations could have for clinical practice and future research.
Pathological gambling: A neurobiological and clinical update
British Journal of Psychiatry, August 2011, vol./is. 199/2(87-89), 0007-1250;1472-1465 (August 2011)
Authors: Bowden-Jones H., Clark L.
Abstract: A proposed merging of pathological gambling with the drug addictions in the forthcoming DSM-5 prompts an overview of the neurobiological data showing similarities between these conditions, as well as an update on national trends in gambling behaviour and current treatment provision.
'You never told me I would turn into a gambler': a first person account of a dopamine agonist- induced gambling addiction in a patient with restless legs syndrome.
BMJ Case Reports 2011: doi;10.1136/bcr
Authors: H.Bowden-Jones, S. George.
Gambling Addiction in Women
Women's Health,Vol 6, N2,2011
Authors: S.George, H.Ekhtiari, H.Bowden-Jones
Once upon a time…’ . Article on the development of the National Problem Gambling Clinic.
Addiction Today: Jan 2010
Author: H.Bowden-Jones
Win-win treatment. Interview by Lynne Wallis
Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987), February 2009, vol./is. 23/23(22-23), 0029-6570 (2009 Feb 11-17)
Authors: Bowden-Jones H., Frayne C.
Abstract: Addiction to gambling tends to be a hidden problem but now the UK's first NHS-funded treatment unit is attempting to tackle it.
Problem Gambling Leaflet for Royal College of Psychiatrists
Royal College of Psychiatrists Public Education Editorial Board.
Author: Bowden-Jones H. 2009
2008 Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry .
H.Bowden-Jones:Co-author of Cannabis chapter.
Editor Prof Peter Tyrer and K. Silk.
Harm Reduction Canadian Style
Scanbites Summer 2006: vol 3 issue 2.
Author: H.Bowden-Jones
Neurobehavioural characteristics and relapse in addiction [11]
British Journal of Psychiatry, May 2006, vol./is. 188/MAY(494), 0007-1250 (May 2006)
Authors: Bowden-Jones H., McPhillips M., Joyce E.M.
Risk-taking on tests sensitive to ventromedial prefrontal cortex dysfunction predicts early relapse in alcohol dependency: A pilot study
Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2005, vol./is. 17/3(417-420), 0895-0172 (2005)
Authors: Bowden-Jones H., McPhillips M., Rogers R., Hutton S., Joyce E.
Abstract: Twenty one patients in a residential rehabilitation program fulfilling International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD) criteria for alcohol dependence syndrome were recruited. On neuropsychological tests, alcohol dependent patients relapsed early if they made choices governed by immediate gain irrespective of later outcome, which is consistent with dysfunctional ventromedial-prefrontal cortex mediating the inability to resist the impulse to drink despite ultimately deleterious effects. The authors suggest that the use of neuropsychological tasks of decision making may have several advantages over more conventional strategies for studying alcoholism. Copyright 2005 American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
Conference Abstracts
Stokes PR; Clark L; Wu K; Michalczuk R; Watson B; Egerton A; Lappin J; Piccini P; Nutt D; Bowden-Jones H; Lingford-Hughes A. IMAGING THE DOPAMINE SYSTEM IN PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING: AN [11C]-RACLOPRIDE PET STUDY. 25:A61-A61. (Aug 2011).
2011 Abstract for National Research Council on Gambling conference,Las Vegas: Facets of impulsivity predict cognitive distortions in pathological gambling: preliminary data from the UK National Problem Gambling Clinic. Bowden-Jones H, Michalczuk R, Verdejo-Garcia A, Clark L.
2003 Abstract for Research Society on Alcohol, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Risk-taking on tests sensitive to ventromedial prefrontal cortex dysfunction predicts early relapse in alcohol dependency: A pilot study. Bowden-Jones H, McPhillips M, Rogers R, Hutton S, Joyce E.
LECTURE AND INTERVIEW FILM CLIPS
Interview with NHS Health Programme, 2009
Lecture at Spanish Problem Gambling Conference, 2011
