Terry Brugha

Traolach Sean Brugha MAE FRCPsych FHEA is an Irish psychiatrist and clinical epidemiologist who is professor of psychiatry at the University of Leicester. He is best known for his work in social psychiatry and the epidemiology of mental disorders, particularly his leadership in the first national prevalence studies of autism spectrum disorder in adults.^[1]

In 1987, Brugha joined the University of Leicester, where he was appointed senior lecturer in psychiatry. He held this position until 2000.^[2] In 2000, Brugha was appointed professor of psychiatry at the University of Leicester and was awarded a personal chair.^[2] Alongside his academic post, he has held consultant psychiatrist appointments within the National Health Service in England.

From 1995 to 1997, he was seconded as senior medical officer to the UK Department of Health and NHS Executive. During this period, he contributed to national mental health policy, including work on psychiatric morbidity survey programmes and services for people with severe mental illness.^[3]

• Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2000)^[4]
• National Health Service National Clinical Excellence Award, Gold level (2005)
• Member of the Academia Europaea (2022)^[5]
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy^[2]

• Brugha, T., Bebbington, P., Tennant, C., & Hurry, J. (1985). The List of Threatening Experiences: a subset of 12 life event categories with considerable long-term contextual threat. Psychological Medicine, 15(1), 189–194.
• Brugha, T. S., Morrell, C. J., Slade, P., & Walters, S. J. (2011). Universal prevention of depression in women postnatally: cluster randomized trial evidence in primary care. Psychological Medicine, 41(4), 739–748.
• Brugha, T. S., McManus, S., Bankart, J., Scott, F., Purdon, S., Smith, J., et al. (2011). Epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders in adults in the community in England. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(5), 459–465.
• Brugha, T. S., Spiers, N., Bankart, J., Cooper, S.-A., McManus, S., Scott, F. J., et al. (2016). Epidemiology of autism in adults across age groups and ability levels. British Journal of Psychiatry, 209(6), 498–503.
• Steel, N., Ford, J. A., Newton, J. N., Davis, A. C. J., Vos, T., Naghavi, M., et al. (2018). Changes in health in the countries of the UK and 150 English Local Authority areas 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet, 392(10158), 1647–1661.
• Brugha, T. S., Bankart, J., McManus, S., & Gullon-Scott, F. (2018). CDC autism rate: misplaced reliance on passive sampling? The Lancet, 392(10149), 732–733. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31494-6
• Brugha, T. S. (2018). The Psychiatry of Adult Autism and Asperger Syndrome: A Practical Guide. Oxford University Press.
• Henderson, C., Dixon, S., Bauer, A., Knapp, M., Morrell, C. J., Slade, P., et al. (2019). Cost-effectiveness of PoNDER health visitor training for mothers at lower risk of depression: findings on prevention of postnatal depression from a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 49(8), 1324–1334.
• Husain, N., Lunat, F., Lovell, K., Miah, J., Chew-Graham, C. A., Bee, P., et al., including Brugha, T. (2024). Efficacy of a culturally adapted, cognitive behavioural therapy-based intervention for postnatal depression in British South Asian women (ROSHNI-2): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, 404(10461), 1430–1443. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01612-X
• Morris, S., Hill, S., Brugha, T., & McManus, S. (eds.) (2025). Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, 2023/4. NHS England. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.24367.39840
• Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 Autism Spectrum Collaborators (including Brugha, T.). (2025). The global epidemiology and health burden of the autism spectrum. The Lancet Psychiatry, 12(2), 111–121. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00363-8