The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Pioneering psychologist dies aged 83
Professor Frank McPherson, the first clinical psychology director of NHS Tayside, has died aged 83 after a brief illness.
A pioneer in his field, he also delivered services after three national disasters.
He provided psychology and mental health services after Piper Alpha in 1988, the Ibrox stadium disaster in 1971 and the tragedy at Dunblane Primary School.
Frank was twice elected president of the European Federation of Professional Psychologists’ Associations, and was an adviser to the World Health Organisation.
An elected Fellow of the British Psychological Society and chairman of both the Society’s Professional Affairs Board and Division of Clinical, he was one of the first clinical psychologists trained in Scotland, qualifying in 1962.
Born in Aberdeen he spent much of the Second World War as an evacuee with his mother in north Wales while his father served with the RAF.
He won a scholarship to Aberdeen Grammar School then studied psychology at Aberdeen University, graduating in 1960.
Frank studied under Rex Knight, the first professor of psychology at the university who with his wife and fellow eminent psychologist, Margaret Horsey, was a huge influence.
Frank lectured at Edinburgh University from 1960 until 1971 then left to set up what became Tayside Area Clinical Psychology Department, the first such area-wide service in the UK.
It grew to become the largest clinical psychology department in Scotland, providing services in adult mental health, primary care, child and adolescent services, learning disabilities, older adults, clinical health, neuropsychology, addictions, forensics and HIV.
The latter two services were respectively the first prison-based clinical forensic psychology service in Scotland and the country’s first clinical psychology service for HIV/Aids patients.
During 28 years in Tayside, Frank kept up his clinical practice in adult mental health services and forensic work, developing a particular expertise in eating disorders.
While at Edinburgh University in the 1960s he set up the first psychology course for medical students that was examined and fully integrated in the curriculum.
He went on to establish the first Royal College of Nursing-approved training for nurses in psychological therapies in Tayside in 1975.
Frank maintained a keen interest in training and teaching and helped develop closer partnerships between the NHS and universities.
He became Abertay University in Dundee’s professor of clinical psychology in 1990.
As president of the European Federation of Professional Psychologists’ Associations from 1982 to 1990, he advised the clinical psychology associations of Spain and Portugal as they emerged from dictatorships.
On retiring from NHS Tayside in 1999, Frank worked as a clinician in occupational health, becoming an expert in dealing with industrial accidents and, as psychology adviser to Scottish Coal, over mining accidents.
In 2009, when the Crown Office Sexual Crimes Prosecution Unit was set up by the Scottish Government, Frank was invited to be the main psychologist expert witness, dealing with victims of sexual crime.
During eight years he prepared legal reports and advised on the prosecution in over 500 cases, giving evidence in court on many.
He was a keen rugby player in his youth and still enjoyed hobbies such as hillwalking, reading, politics, aviation and supporting Aberdeen FC, whom he had first watched at Pittodrie aged four.
He is survived by his second wife, Dr Frances Baty, the NHS director of psychology in Fife, son Colin, daughter Katrina, from his first marriage to Karin Langenheim, and five granddaughters.