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Dr Shah is an experienced psychiatrist. Since entering psychiatry 32 years ago he has been a consultant for almost 25 years.
Adult ADHD and Autism
Dr Shah is one of Scotland’s foremost clinical experts in adult ADHD and Autism. He founded Scotland’s first adult ADHD clinic in the NHS in 2007 and expanded into adult Autism in 2012. He is a founder and member of the NHS Lothian Adult ADHD/ ASD resource team, which provides specialist assessments and opinions for those with complex presentations, and runs an NHS assessment clinic for adult ADHD/ Autism.
He has expertise in complex situations where those with ASD or ADHD have co-occurring mental health problems such as depression or anxiety.
He has worked with the Scottish Government, advising on the adult neurodevelopmental disorders strategy and as a member of the National Autism Implementation Team tasked with the implementation of good clinical practice on Autism and ADHD in Scottish health services.
During his time as chair of the Royal College of psychiatrists in Scotland, Dr Shah also led the development and commission of ‘Good Practice Guidelines in adult ADHD’.
He has published seminal articles on ADHD and ASD in adults and has been involved in adult ADHD research, investigating ADHD in adult offenders. He has worked with ADHD charities eg to develop a pragmatic self-directed intervention package.
Adult mental health conditions
Dr Shah has extensive specialist expertise in mood disorders such as depression and bipolar conditions. He was a research fellow in mood disorders with the Medical Research Council. Having been a community psychiatrist for 25 years, he has extensive practical experience with general adult mental health conditions such as mood disorders (eg depression, bipolar) psychotic disorders (eg schizophrenia), anxiety disorders and personality-related problems.
He regularly works with those who have complex mental health problems.
Clinical approach
Dr Shah aims to provide advice which balances the best available evidence for intervention with an individual’s personal circumstances. With ADHD and ASD, he believes the approach needs to be collaborative and self-empowering, supporting the development of a person’s strengths and providing pragmatic solutions to areas of challenge.
